Former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice has criticized the Trump administration’s national security agenda more than once. Despite her own tendency to stretch the truth, most infamously regarding the terror attack in Benghazi in 2012, Rice has accused Trump of sending “mixed messages.”
On Monday she changed her tune a bit, giving the president the benefit of the doubt in terms of the leaks that seem to be never ending. With the disturbing news that intelligence officials are leaking information about the Manchester terror attack, Rice told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that Trump is justified in his frustrated response.
"I think Prime Minister May was correct to express her concern to the president," she said. "The president was correct to express his outrage at this, and it's incumbent upon the administration, as well as our state and local law enforcement, to hold carefully and closely confidential, classified information."
The United Kingdom, infuriated over the leaks, temporarily halted intelligence sharing with the U.S.
Trump has likewise been extremely vocal in condemning the White House leaks regarding the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. The unlawful leaks - not the unsubstantiated claims of collusion between Russia and his administration - is the real story, he claims.
Don't assume that Rice has had a change of heart about the current administration. In the same interview with Stephanopoulos, Rice accused Trump of playing right into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hands by raising doubts about the U.S.'s commitment to the NATO alliance, and blasting the other member nations in the process.
