On Tuesday, President Donald Trump's officials declassified the full text of the email former ambassador and national security official Susan Rice sent herself on the day of Trump's inauguration, according to Politico.
But several reporters and commentators said that key elements of the text contradict Trump’s conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama sought to corruptly influence the FBI into fabricating charges against incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and derail his administration — a narrative he and his allies have referred to as "Obamagate."
"The email, which memorialized the meeting two weeks after it happened, said Obama wanted to be sure “every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities 'by the book,''" reported Betsy Woodruff Swan. “'The president stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective,' the email continued. 'He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book.'"
This stands in contrast to the idea that Obama wanted the DOJ to politically target Trump or particularly disfavor his allies.
Rice also wrote that then-FBI Director James Comey "worried about sharing classified information with the Trump team because of incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn’s frequent conversations with the Russian ambassador," although Comey had no proof Flynn was giving them classified information.
Despite all of this, according to Politico, "Trump and his allies ... pointed to the document as evidence to claim the Obama administration illegally spied on his campaign. Some of those claims were not particularly subtle. .JOE BIDEN IS GUILTY,. read the subject line of a recent Trump campaign fundraising email."
