Former national security adviser Susan Rice insisted President Trump should have had the “common courtesy” to notify Barack Obama of the raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Rice made the comments during an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, explaining that she was “quite confident” President Trump hadn’t followed accepted protocol by notifying his predecessor ahead of the raid.
“Was President Obama informed of the death of al-Baghdadi by the administration?” Margaret Brennan inquired. “Did you know before the news today?”
“No, there’s no reason why I should know,” Rice explained. “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,” she whined.
RELATED: Media’s Response to ISIS Leader’s Death: Trump Was Too Mean
Susan Rice shades Pres Trump for not calling Obama to notify him about al-Baghdadi’s death.
“Hi Barack, remember that time you left a power vacuum in Iraq & ISIS grew? Yeah, after years of murder, rape & terrorism, I killed their leader. You’re welcome.pic.twitter.com/mgtS9VYSmE
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) October 28, 2019
Visit our friends at WHATFINGERNEWS: The Internet’s Conservative Homepage
Obama Didn’t Tip Off Bush About Bin Laden
Rice couldn’t even confirm that Obama extended the same courtesy to former President George W. Bush regarding the raid that took out Osama Bin Laden.
Brennan asked Rice explicitly about the 2011 raid on Bin Laden’s compound but Rice repeatedly interjected that the Obama administration “typically tried to do that as a matter of courtesy.”
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Either you did or you didn’t. Brennan wasn’t asking about ‘typical’ scenarios, she was asking specifically about the death of the 9/11 mastermind.
ABC News reported in 2011 that Bush was not informed of the raid until after the fact when he received a phone call from Obama.
RELATED: Lindsey Graham Punches Back After Susan Rice Calls Him a Vulgar Name
Susan Rice Complains That Trump Should Have Informed Obama About Killing ISIS Leader https://t.co/djXtfug9La pic.twitter.com/678HFSJ6YS
— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) October 28, 2019
Obama Didn’t Notify Congress Beforehand Either
Democrats who have criticized President Trump over his reaction to the Baghdadi raid have also been harsh in their complaints that he didn’t notify them beforehand either.
CNN reported on top Democrats’ complaints and claimed, “The move to not make notable leaders aware goes against the usual tradition for such high-profile operations.”
The President explained that he didn’t inform them about the raid because he was concerned with leaks, something that had allowed Baghdadi to escape years earlier.
President Trump on why he didn’t trust Nancy Pelosi or Adam Schiff with info on the Baghdadi raid:
“I think Adam Schiff is the biggest leaker in Washington. You know that, I know that, we all know that. I watched Adam Schiff leak. He is a corrupt politician.” pic.twitter.com/53Gz81Qa33
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) October 28, 2019
A New York Times column in 2015 revealed that lawyers had helped Obama navigate the legal perils of not alerting Congress to the Bin Laden raid.
The administration’s legal team “wrote a memo addressing when the administration had to alert congressional leaders under a statute governing covert actions” adding that “the lawyers decided that the administration would be legally justified in delaying notification until after the raid.”
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta briefed several top lawmakers about the raid without White House permission, but that doesn’t change the fact that Obama had no intention of doing so.
It would appear Democrats and Rice whining about Trump’s tactics have no solid footing with which to argue.
