Former White House NSA denies using govt secrets for political purpose

Washington DC: Former White House national security adviser Susan Rice has said she denied making public the names of any associates of President Donald Trump mentioned in intelligence surveillance, saying she never used government secrets for political purpose.

"I leaked nothing to nobody. I never have and never would. That is absolutely false," CNN quoted Rice as saying in an interview to a local news channel.

"Absolutely not for any political purposes, to spy, expose, anything," she added.

Rice argued that that asking intelligence officials for more information about classified reports was a routine aspect of her job.

Rice's remarks come after President Donald Trump retweeted a story by a portal called 'The Daily Caller' under the headline 'Rice ordered spy docs on Trump?'

The story, which cites former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova as its source, claimed Rice had asked U.S. spy agencies to produce 'detailed spreadsheets' of phone calls involving Trump and his aides during the campaign.

The Obama administration's national security advisor played a central role in 'unmasking' several Trump campaign officials who had been swept up in U.S. surveillance operations against foreign targets during last year's presidential election campaign, according to current White House officials.