Sohn: Rice report can't put out Trump/Russia fire

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting last month in the White House. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump listens during a meeting last month in the White House. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Conservatives and the Trump administration have thrown up another red herring to distract from the ever-ballooning Trump/Russia scandal.

This time, conservative news outlets - which are usually talking about immigration when other media are reporting new Russia links to the Oval Office - reported that sources told them former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice sought to "unmask" the identities of Americans cited in intelligence reports about surveillance of foreign officials and connected with Trump's campaign or transition.

Rice and other former national security officials defended her requests as normal and said they were justified by the need for the president's top security adviser to understand the context of reports sent to her by the nation's intelligence agencies.

She was, after all, the national security adviser and as such was charged with ensuring the nation's security. Further, she couldn't have names unmasked without permission from the intelligence agency that briefed her - a system in place to prevent political abuses. Rice denied emphatically to MSNBC on Tuesday that she had leaked that or any other information.

News shows and headlines exploded Tuesday over the Susan Rice nothing-burger.

That was a shame considering that what reporters and Americans need to be talking about is a truly disturbing Washington Post report that the United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder and Donald Trump donor Erik Prince to meet with a Russian person close to President Vladimir Putin. The purpose of that meeting, according to U.S., European and Arab officials, was to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and then-President elect-Trump.

The Post reports that UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria - a Trump administration objective that would likely require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions.

The Post said Prince, who had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump, according to the officials.

Prince contributed $250,000 to Trump's campaign, the national party and a pro-Trump super PAC, records show. He has ties to Stephen K. Bannon and is the brother of Betsy DeVos, Trump's education secretary. He was seen in the Trump transition offices in New York in December, according to the Post.

"U.S. officials said the FBI has been scrutinizing the Seychelles meeting as part of a broader probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and alleged contacts between associates of Putin and Trump. The FBI declined to comment," according to the Post.

Tell us again why we think it's questionable that Susan Rice was doing her job by asking for more information about who was talking to whom?

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