Tag: Susan Rice

Biden taps Susan Rice to steer domestic policy

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President-elect Biden will name former National Security Adviser Susan Rice to head the Domestic Policy Council, the Biden transition team confirmed Thursday — a significant change from her previous roles that would put her in charge of major portions of his “Build Back Better”plan.

Between the lines: Rice was previously considered for Cabinet positions including Secretary of State, but she would have faced steep confirmation odds given her history of clashes with some GOP senators and as a flashpoint over Benghazi. The DPC role does not require Senate confirmation.

  • She’ll coordinate closely with the president-elect’s top national security and economic advisers, Jake Sullivan and Brian Deese.
  • This reflects Biden’s desire for more interconnected management of foreign, economic and domestic policy. Continue reading.

Susan Rice Explains Exactly Why Donald Trump’s White House Is ‘Racist To Its Core’

The Obama-era national security adviser said Trump’s GOP backers in the Senate should be consigned to “the trash heap of history.”

Former national security adviser Susan Rice on Friday delivered a damning assessment of the Trump White House’s record on race, describing the administration as “racist to its core.”

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked Rice to comment on the resignation of senior State Department official Mary Elizabeth Taylor, one of the White House’s highest-ranking Black aides. Taylor reportedly quit in protest of President Donald Trump’s response to the anti-racism protests that have spread nationwide following the police killing of George Floyd last month.

Rice said Taylor’s resignation was “better late than never.” Continue reading.

Trump administration declassifies full Susan Rice email sent on Inauguration Day

The email describes a Jan. 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting about Michael Flynn and Russian interference in the 2016 election.

On the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, outgoing national security adviser Susan Rice sent herself an email that has since drawn intense scrutiny from Republicans.

Now the full text of the email has been declassified, and POLITICO reviewed it. It says 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 but that Comey had no knowledge of Flynn sharing classified information with the envoy.

Republicans have seized on the document as potential evidence that the outgoing president had ordered the FBI to spy on the new administration, as Trump has alleged. And they have raised questions about the “unusual” nature of Rice memorializing the conversation in an email to herself, suggesting that in warning Comey to proceed “by the book,” Obama was implying that top law enforcement officials had done the opposite. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Rice said it shows the Obama administration handled the Flynn situation appropriately. Continue reading.

Susan Rice calls for Flynn-Kislyak transcripts to be released

The Hill logoFormer Obama administration national security adviser Susan Rice has called for the Trump administration to release transcripts of phone calls between Michael Flynn, her successor under President Trump, and then-Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.

Rice, through a spokeswoman, renewed her call for the transcripts to be publicly released after acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassified an email Rice sent to herself documenting a meeting in January 2017 about Flynn’s contacts with Kislyak.

“In the interest of transparency, Ambassador Rice again calls upon the Director of National Intelligence to release the unredacted transcripts of all Kislyak-Flynn calls,” spokeswoman Erin Pelton said in a statement on behalf of Rice. “The American people deserve the full transcripts so they can judge for themselves Michael Flynn’s conduct.” Continue reading.

Susan Rice confronts John Bolton face to face over impeachment failure: ‘I can’t imagine withholding my testimony’

AlterNet logoSusan Rice confronted John Bolton face to face over his failure to testify in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.

Rice, who served as former President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, shared a stage Wednesday with Trump’s former national security adviser at Vanderbilt University, and she confronted Bolton over keeping quiet about his concerns over Ukraine, reported The Guardian.

“I can’t imagine withholding my testimony with or without a subpoena,” Rice said. “I would feel like I was shamefully violating the oath that I took to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.” Continue reading.