Graham jabs at Rice for ‘political manipulation’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) accused Susan Rice, former President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, of having a history of “political manipulation” of security intel. 

“In terms of political manipulation of national security information, Susan Rice in my view has done it in the past,” he said Tuesday on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom.”

“Susan Rice in my view misled the American people about the nature of the attack in Benghazi,” he added, referencing the 2012 terrorist attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

{mosads}“Whether or not she did it this time, I don’t know. But it is something Congress should look into. When it comes to Susan Rice, you need to verify, not trust.”

Graham was addressing reports that Rice requested that identities of U.S. citizens be revealed in raw intelligence documents connected to President Trump’s transition team.

U.S. officials purportedly discovered Rice’s requests during a National Security Council review of how the government handles the “unmasking” of U.S. citizens who are incidentally swept up in surveillance of foreign targets. 

The identities of U.S. citizens are usually redacted in intel reports. 

Graham said he is troubled by the possibility that information incidentally collected from Trump’s transition team may have benefited the incoming president’s political opponents.

“I’m not going to prejudge here, but I think every American should know whether or not the national security adviser to [former] President Obama was involved in unmasking Trump transition figures for political purposes,” he told host Bill Hemmer.

“I’m very worried about somebody asking incidental collection for political purposes. I think that is a real problem we should get to the bottom of.”

Rice on Tuesday categorically denied that the Obama administration inappropriately spied on Trump or members of his transition team.

“The allegation is that somehow, Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes,” she said on MSNBC. “That’s absolutely false.”

Trump began claiming last month, without evidence, that Obama had his “wires tapped” at Trump Tower in New York City during the campaign.