President Trump said Thursday that Susan Rice admitting that she unmasked the identities of Trump transition team officials caught up in national security surveillance was “just the tip of the iceberg.”
He condemned her actions as “wrong.”
Ms. Rice, who was President Obama’s national security adviser, told House investigators that she had spy agencies identify Trump officials when the the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates visited New York in December, when Mr. Trump was president-elect and the transition was underway.
“She’s not supposed to be doing that and what she did was wrong,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We’ve been saying that. It’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Mr. Trump had been criticized for claiming the Obama administration “wiretapped” Trump Tower.
The House committee investigating Russian interference in the election is also looking into allegations of the Obama administration improperly unmasking Trump officials caught up in surveillance.
Republicans on the committee said they did not hear anything improper in what Ms. Rice described.
She privately told the House investigators that she wanted to find out who Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan was visiting in New York. He had not told Mr. Obama about the visit, as is customary.
Mr. Trump said she shouldn’t have done it.
“She wasn’t supposed to be doing that — the unmasking and the surveillance,” he said.
Mr. Trump spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One on his return trip from Florida, where he toured neighborhoods hit by Hurricane Irma.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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