Susan Rice is a Political Hack, But It Doesn't Mean Obama Wiretapped Trump Tower

Less than two weeks ago, former Obama National Security Adviser & Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice wrote this in an op-ed for The Washington Post:


So, when a White House deliberately dissembles and serially contorts the facts, its actions pose a serious risk to America’s global leadership, among friends and adversaries alike.


Can you say Benghazi? Can you say Bowe Bergdahl?


Now, thanks to Eli Lake, let's add, "Can you say unmasking?"


In an article for Bloomberg, Lake reveals it was Susan Rice who was responsible for requesting the identities of persons collected in electronic surveillance connected to the Trump campaign:


The intelligence reports were summaries of monitored conversations -- primarily between foreign officials discussing the Trump transition, but also in some cases direct contact between members of the Trump team and monitored foreign officials. One U.S. official familiar with the reports said they contained valuable political information on the Trump transition such as whom the Trump team was meeting, the views of Trump associates on foreign policy matters and plans for the incoming administration.


Not surprisingly, Trump's supporters have taken to Twitter to say that their man was right all along under the hashtag #SusanRice and that the Obama Administration was, in fact, spying on him.


There's no question Susan Rice is a political hack of the lowest order and is in no position to lecture the Trump Administration, much less anyone else about telling the truth. But these damning revelations notwithstanding there is still no evidence that President Obama actually wiretapped Trump Towers. This is what Trump asserted and this has not been substantiated. For his part, Lake specifically states:


Rice's requests to unmask the names of Trump transition officials do not vindicate Trump's own tweets from March 4 in which he accused Obama of illegally tapping Trump Tower. There remains no evidence to support that claim.


Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't put it past Obama to do such a thing. But just because the Obama Administration could do such a thing doesn't mean it actually did.


Whatever ill-motives the Obama Administration might have had, the Michael Flynn matter also demonstrates the Trump Administration needs to get its own house in order before casting stones.