Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice told CBS that President Trump should have given her former boss a heads-up on the Special Forces raid that killed the leader of the Islamic State.
Ms. Rice said she is “quite confident,” though she couldn’t say definitely, that the Trump administration “didn’t do the normal protocol” by telling former President Barack Obama about the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked whether “President Obama [was] informed of the death of al-Baghdadi by the administration? Did you know?”
Ms. Rice replied that while “there’s no reason why I should know,” Mr. Trump probably didn’t.
“There is a tradition of common courtesy of presidents informing their predecessors of things of significance like this. Since the White House seemingly didn’t feel it necessary to inform the leadership of the intelligence committees on a bipartisan basis, I’m quite confident that they didn’t do the normal protocol with respect to predecessors either.”
But when Ms. Rice was asked whether the Obama administration had followed that normal protocol and told President George W. Bush about the 2011 attack on Osama bin Laden, she was evasive, saying neither “yes” or “no.”
The administration “tried to do that — as a matter of courtesy,” she replied over the questioner.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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