https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/05/19/susan-rice-memo-declassified-and-released-confirms-discussion-about-flynn-as-subject-of-fbi-investigation/#more-192193

Note the second to last paragraph, it’s all about denying knowledge of FBI operations, writ large, against the Trump campaign or incoming administration.

When James Clapper walked directly into the White House with “intelligence cuts” specifically from the FBI to share with President Obama, it’s likely the legal team around Obama -specifically including Kathryn Reummler- went bananas.

James Clapper was always a doofus, but usefully so. However, in this context doofus Clapper -with his FBI cuts in hand- just infected the White House with direct knowledge of an ongoing FBI investigation of the incoming administration. In that briefing Clapper just walked over their carefully assembled plausible deniability like an ox in the oval. D’oh.

The ‘pull aside’ meeting immediately thereafter, January 5th, was Obama and Susan Rice cleaning up the mess and reassembling their plausible deniability.

The January 20th Susan Rice memo-to-file was supportive material for that intention.