Obama officials catalogued Russia probe documents to protect them from Trump officials

As part of an effort to make sure no intelligence related to the Russia investigation was buried by the incoming administration, Obama officials logged the serial numbers of all the documents and hand delivered that log to the Senate Intelligence Committee. NBC News reports:

Obama administration officials were so concerned about what would happen to key classified documents related to the Russia probe once President Trump took office that they created a list of document serial numbers to give to senior members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a former Obama official told NBC News.

The official said that after the list of documents related to the probe into Russian interference in the U.S. election was created in early January, he hand-carried it to the committee members. The numbers themselves were not classified, said the official.

The purpose, said the official, was to make it “harder to bury” the information, "to share it with those on the Hill who could lawfully see the documents," and to make sure it could reside in an Intelligence committee safe, "not just at Langley [CIA hq]."

White House press secretary Sean Spicer twisted that report into something seemingly improper during Friday's briefing.

Nice try, Sean. And for the record, Spicer’s Friday briefing was an exceptionally special next-level display of deflection. This Russian thing is turning everyone who touches it inside out.