UPDATE: Business Insider has discovered Senators Grassley and Graham received Susan Rice's email eight months ago.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley received a copy of Rice's memo on June 16, 2017, according to records obtained by Business Insider on Thursday.
But he and Graham didn't publicly voice their concerns about it until February 8, 2018. In a letter sent to Rice, the lawmakers said it was "odd" she felt the need to send "such an unusual email purporting to document a conversation involving President Obama and his interactions with the FBI regarding the Trump/Russia investigation" to herself on her final day as an Obama administration official.
Graham later added that the email was "disturbing" and suggested it was evidence that Obama interfered in the Russia probe in an effort to undermine Trump.
Given their concerns about the email, it is unclear why Grassley and Graham waited eight months before addressing the matter with Rice. Their representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
New documents show Senate Republicans had Susan Rice's email for 8 months before they raised questions about it (Business Insider)
Through her lawyer, President Obama's National Security Advisor Susan Rice is fighting back against two Republican Senators attempting to frame an email she sent herself on President Trump's inauguration day in a suspicious light.
"The discussion that Ambassador Rice documented did not involve the so-called Steele dossier," said [Susan Rice's attorney Kathryn] Ruemmler in a statement. "Any insinuation that Ambassador Rice’s actions in this matter were inappropriate is yet another attempt to distract and deflect from the importance of the ongoing investigations into Russian meddling in America’s democracy."
Rice's email to herself recounted a meeting that took place about two weeks earlier during which Obama officials asked FBI Director James Comey if they should be concerned about sharing intel with the incoming administration. They wanted to know if anyone was compromised by Russia to the extent he should not have access to sensitive national security information.
The email turned up in response to a request from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC), chairman and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee respectively, for correspondence related to former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who conducted the research behind the Trump dossier.
- Judiciary chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) sent Rice a letter Monday asking why Rice sent that "unusual" email to herself during her final moments in office — two weeks after the meeting took place. They also asked whether the Steele dossier or wiretaps of Trump adviser Carter Page came up during the meeting. Ruemmler denied the former in her statement and did not address the latter.
- "There is nothing ‘unusual’ about the National Security Advisor memorializing an important discussion for the record," said Ruemmler in her statement.
Susan Rice lawyer: Steele dossier not discussed in 2017 meeting (Axios)