Who Is Susan Rice? Obama Official 'Unmasked' Trump Associates In Surveillance Controversy

Susan Rice, former national security adviser to President Barack Obama, came under fire after reports emerged that she “unmasked” President Donald Trump’s associates caught on tape during intelligence surveillance. Rice adamantly denied doing anything wrong and defended her actions Tuesday, saying they were not done for political purposes.

Debate persisted over whether Rice did something wrong by unmasking the identities and whether the action lent credence to Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that the Obama administration wiretapped phones at Trump Tower.

“The allegation is that somehow Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes,” Rice told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell. “That’s absolutely false.”

The Obama administration hasn’t denied that Rice requested the unmasking of identities in an intelligence report that came from eavesdropping on foreign parties. However, Rice contends that the requests were for a legitimate purpose and not to spy on Trump.

“There were occasions when I would receive a report in which a U.S. person was referred to – name not provided, just a U.S. person – and sometimes in that context, in order to understand the important of the report, and assess its significance, it was necessary to find out, or request the information as to who the U.S. official was,” Rice told MSNBC. “The notion that some people are trying to suggest, is that by asking for the identity of a person is leaking it, is unequivocally false. There is no connection between unmasking and leaking.”

Trump has lambasted Rice for the allegations, tweeting articles from Fox News that allege spying took place.

“Such amazing reporting on unmasking and the crooked scheme against us by @foxandfriends. 'Spied on before nomination.' The real story,” the president wrote in a tweet Monday.

Rice continued to staunchly deny any allegations of spying, saying that the requests were ordinary and similar to those of other national security officials.

“I leaked nothing to nobody. I never have and never would,” she said. “It is absolutely false that Obama officials used intelligence for political purposes.”