Declassified Susan Rice email reveals FBI concern about Flynn, further debunks Trump’s ‘Obamagate’ accusations

President Trump’s handpicked spy chief declassified an email on Tuesday that has long been sought by Republicans convinced that Barack Obama ordered the FBI to spy on the incoming administration in the waning days of his presidency.

But the email — which was penned by Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, and memorializes a Jan. 5, 2017 Oval Office meeting — does not divulge a sinister plot to spy on Trump’s administration.

Rather, it shows that the top tiers of the Obama administration were deeply concerned about incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn’s contacts with a Russian government official and wanted the FBI to investigate the matter “by the book.”

“President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities ‘by the book,'" Rice wrote about the meeting, which was attended by then-FBI Director James Comey, former Vice President Joe Biden and ex-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

“The president stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective," Rice continued in the email, which she sent to herself as a memo on the same day Trump was inaugurated. "He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book.”

After Obama’s comments, Comey said he was “proceeding ‘by the book’” as it related to the FBI’s investigation of Flynn’s peculiar contacts with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s then-ambassador to the U.S., according to Rice.

Rice wrote that Comey voiced concern about sharing “sensitive information” relating to Russia with Flynn in light of the FBI learning he had spoken about U.S. sanctions policy with Kislyak and then lied about it to incoming Vice President Mike Pence.

“President Obama asked if Comey was saying that the NSC should not pass sensitive information related to Russia to Flynn,” Rice wrote, using an acronym for the White House National Security Council. “Comey replied ‘potentially.’ He added that he has no indication thus far that Flynn has passed classified information to Kislyak, but he noted that ‘the level of communication is unusual.’”

Rice concluded the brief email by noting that Obama asked Comey to "inform him if anything changes in the next few weeks that should affect how we share classified information with the incoming team. Comey said that he would.”

Richard Grenell, the acting Director of National Intelligence installed by Trump, declassified the email in response to a request from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), who has long pushed dubious accusations against Obama.

It is the second classified record released by Grenell in as many weeks that names Biden, the Democratic nominee for president.

Last week, Grenell released a classified list of Obama administration officials who went through proper channels to learn of Flynn’s identity after he popped up in redacted foreign intelligence intercepts because of his contacts with Kislyak.

President Trump and his GOP allies in Congress have made political hay out of Grenell’s disclosures and claim they show that Obama ordered law enforcement to target his successor. Trump has dubbed the alleged scandal “Obamagate” and charges his predecessor committed “the biggest political crime in American history.”

But Trump has struggled to even explain what crime he believes Obama committed, and neither of the documents released by Grenell points to illicit activity.

In fact, the Rice email shows that Obama repeatedly stressed that the FBI should carry out its Flynn investigation “by the book" and without instructions from him.

Flynn ended up pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his talks with Kislyak.

Attorney General William Barr’s Trump-friendly Justice Department has since moved to drop its own prosecution of Flynn, claiming the FBI did not have a good reason to investigate him in the first place.

A federal judge is currently weighing whether to grant the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the case.