Swalwell dares Trump: Declassify the surveillance documents

Source: Politico





04/05/17 04:54 PM EDT


A Democrat on the House panel investigating Donald Trump’s ties to Russia is issuing an ultimatum: If the president is going to accuse members of the Obama administration of breaking the law, he should prove it.

“If the president wants to say that Susan Rice committed a crime, he has the power to declassify. No one else does,” Rep. Eric Swalwell of California said Wednesday. “So, he could actually show us where the crime was. I don't expect he will, because I think this is just more obstructionism.”

Swalwell’s remarks came after Trump told The New York Times that he believes Rice committed a crime when she reportedly requested the identities of Trump transition aides who were caught up in U.S. surveillance of foreign targets. “It is one of the big stories of our time,” Trump declared.

But Rice, as national security adviser under President Barack Obama, would not have broken the law by making such a request, nor would it necessarily be improper. The identities of U.S. persons caught up in foreign surveillance are typically shielded in intelligence reports, but Rice and other high-ranking officials would have had the legal authority to request that the intelligence agency behind the report “unmask” them.

Rice on Tuesday said in an interview with MSNBC it was "absolutely false" that the Obama administration used intelligence "for political purposes."


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Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/eric-swalwell-donald-trump-susan-rice-declassify-236927

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