The Trump administration on Tuesday declassified an email that former national security adviser (NSA) Susan Rice sent herself about a meeting discussing “sensitive information related to Russia” and her incoming successor, Michael Flynn.
The email, which Rice sent the day of President Trump’s inauguration, describes a Jan. 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting between herself, former President Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.
“Comey said he does have some concerns that incoming NSA Flynn is speaking frequently with Russian Ambassador [Sergey] Kislyak. Comey said that could be an issue as it relates to sharing sensitive information,” Rice wrote in the email, which was formerly classified as “top secret.”
“President Obama asked if Comey was saying that the NSC [National Security Council] should not pass sensitive information related to Russia to Flynn. Comey replied ‘potentially,'” she continued. “He added that he has no indication thus far that Flynn has passed classified information to Kislyak, but he noted that ‘the level of communication is unusual.'”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who obtained the email through the Justice Department, emphasized the “significance of the meeting” described in the email to the probe by GOP lawmakers into the handling of the investigation into Russia’s election interference.
Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents as a consequence of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference, has been a key player in the GOP’s probe. The Justice Department has since made the controversial recommendation to drop the case against Flynn.
Read the declassified email below.