Susan Rice attorney denies message she sent herself on Trump’s inauguration was ‘unusual’

An attorney for Susan Rice said on Friday that there was nothing “unusual” about an email the former national security adviser sent herself on President Trump’s Inauguration Day.

The email — which apparently memorializes a meeting with former President Obama, former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates — was revealed earlier this month by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

The meeting touched on whether the Obama administration should withhold certain information about the FBI investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election from the Trump administration.

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Grassley and Graham have raised questions about why Rice would send herself “such an unusual email purporting to document a conversation involving President Obama and his interactions with the FBI regarding the Trump/Russia investigation.”

Rice’s attorney denied the word “unusual” applied.

“There is nothing ‘unusual’ about the National Security Advisor memorializing an important discussion for the record,” Kathryn Ruemmler said in a statement. 

“The Obama White House was justifiably concerned about how comprehensive they should be in their briefings regarding Russia to members of the Trump transition team, particularly Lt. General Michael Flynn, given the concerning communications between him and Russian officials,” she said.

She went on to say that the meeting had nothing to do with the controversial dossier that Republicans say underlies the investigation into Russian interference.

“The discussion that Ambassador Rice documented did not involve the so-called Steele dossier,” she continued. “Any insinuation that Ambassador Rice’s actions in this matter were inappropriate is yet another attempt to distract and deflect from the importance of the ongoing investigations into Russian meddling in America’s democracy.”

Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, resigned from the post within weeks of taking office after it was revealed that he had lied to the FBI and Vice President Pence about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. 

Flynn pleaded guilty in December to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, and acknowledged that he is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow to disrupt and influence the 2016 election.