It’s been nearly two weeks since Donald Trump’s classic attempt to distract from his own legion of scandals by accusing former national security adviser Susan Rice of having broken the law by requesting the names of Trump aides mentioned in U.S. intelligence reports. Trump wanted attention focused on Rice rather than on the fact that his aides’ names were coming up in the surveillance of foreign intelligence targets, and he has succeeded at creating a distraction. But here’s the reality:
"I saw no evidence of any wrongdoing," said one U.S. official who reviewed the documents, who would not agree to be identified further. "It was all completely normal."
His assessment was shared by a senior Republican aide who had been briefed on the matter but declined to speak on the record.
Also, it’s not like Rice was some cowboy breaking the rules and bypassing the usual procedures for unmasking. She had to get the information from somewhere, and:
But current and former U.S. intelligence officials have said that any unmasking request by Rice would have been made to the NSA director or the FBI director, who would have the final say. Both men are still in their jobs under President Trump.
Facts, schmacts, though. Donald Trump was able to make headlines out of a blatant falsehood, and Susan Rice’s name is still in the middle of this story even though the real story—the scandal—is about Trump’s Russia ties as Russia was interfering in the U.S. elections.