Based on the newly declassified email from former Obama National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, regarding the infamous January 5, 2017 meeting, Former Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland believed that Rice’s behavior was “odd” and that it might just be another proof of a government cover-up.

Based on the evidence, Former Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland found Rice’s email to herself as “odd.” In a statement, McFarland claimed that while the recently declassified evidence had helped to “piece’ the “puzzle” of the Obamagate scandal, she stated that Rice’s emails didn’t “jive or even “make any sense.” She went on to question the very logic of the declassified emails, “unless you assumed that somebody was going to come and look for those clues, that somebody was potentially going to come after the fact and see that they’ve done something wrong,” the former National Security Advisor wrote.

The newly declassified evidence was released by acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell. Initially, Grenell reported the declassified email to Wall Street Journal‘s Kimberley Strassel.

On January 20, 2017, Rice suspiciously wrote an email to herself, regarding the infamous Oval Office meeting, hours before she left the White House. What was even more troubling is that Rice repeated the phrase “by the book” numerous times. In the said meeting, top Obama admin officials discussed communications between then-incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The communications were then used by the intelligence community to push Flynn into a perjury trap, which would later cost him his position.

A portion of Rice’s email noted that on January 5, the intelligence community discussed the possible Russian influence on the recently concluded 2016 Presidential elections. The former Security Advisor claimed that after the briefing, former President Obama asked FBI Director Jim Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to stay behind, as well as then Vice-President Joe Biden.

In a closed-door conversation, Obama stressed out the importance of making sure that the investigation was handled with caution, and that it should be “by the book.” He went on to claim that he did not initiate or instruct anything from the federal officials. Again, Rice reaffirmed her previous statements, that “He [Obama] reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book.”

In another portion of the email, Rice noted that Comey confirmed that the proceeding was “by the book” and expressed his concern over communications with Flynn and the Russian Ambassador. Although Comey did not have proof that Flynn had been sharing classified information with Russia, he believed that “the level of communication is unusual.”

However, Attorney General William Barr had already addressed such issues during his interview for CBS News. Barr explained that the communication was not unusual, given Flynn’s position as an incoming National Security Advisor for President Donald Trump. In fact, Barr claimed that it was only a part of the “transition,” and such communications were “funded” and “recognized” by the U.S. government. Barr even described the call as “laudable” as it was made for the benefit of the country’s interest.