WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he thought that former National Security Adviser Susan Rice may have committed a crime by seeking the identities of Trump associates who were swept up in the surveillance of foreign officials by U.S. spy agencies.
Trump also suggested other officials in former President Barack Obama's administration may also have been involved, but provided no evidence to back his claims.
Current and former intelligence officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations have said that nothing they have seen led them to believe that Rice's actions were unusual or unlawful. When Americans are swept up in surveillance of foreign officials by intelligence agencies, their identities are supposed to be obscured, but they can be revealed for national security reasons, and intelligence officials say it is a regular occurrence.
"I think it's going to be the biggest story," Trump said in an interview in the Oval Office. "It's such an important story for our country and the world. It is one of the big stories of our time."
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He declined to say if he had personally reviewed new intelligence to bolster his claim but pledged to explain himself "at the right time."
When asked whether Rice, who has denied leaking the names of Trump associates under surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies, had committed a crime, the president said, "Do I think? Yes, I think."
Rice has denied any impropriety. A spokesman for Rice, Erin Pelton, said Wednesday in an email, "I'm not going to dignify the president's ludicrous charge with a comment."
In an interview Tuesday with MSNBC, Rice said: "The allegation is that somehow the Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes. That's absolutely false."
Trump did not make clear what crime he was accusing Rice of committing. It is legal and not unusual for a national security adviser to request the identities of Americans who are mentioned in intelligence reports.
Intelligence officials said any requests that Rice may have made would have been handled by the intelligence agency responsible for the report, which in most cases would have been the National Security Agency.
Leaking classified information could be a crime, but no evidence has surfaced publicly that indicates Rice did that and she flatly denied doing so in her interview with MSNBC. "I leaked nothing to nobody, and never have and never would," Rice said.
Trump during the interview was surrounded at his desk by a half-dozen of his highest-ranking aides, including economic adviser Gary Cohn and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, along with Vice President Mike Pence.
Information for this article was contributed by Peter Baker and Matthew Rosenberg of The New York Times.
A Section on 04/06/2017