The boy who cried ‘crime’

The master of distraction, deflection and disinformation is at it again. As questions swirl about Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump officials’ contacts with the Kremlin, the President Wednesday declared that he “thinks” Obama national security adviser Susan Rice committed a crime.

Trump added, “I think it’s going to be the biggest story . . . one of the big stories of our time.” He promised proof “at the right time.” Rice’s so-called offense? Unmasking the names of Americans swept up in surveillance of foreign officials by intelligence agencies, then, supposedly, leaking the names.

But determining the identities of individuals obscured in intelligence reports is kosher, and frequently done for national security reasons.

As for the leaks — which, happily, precipitated the removal of dangerously compromised Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn — Rice has denied any role.

If this sounds familiar, there’s a reason. A month ago, Trump made the unfounded charge that his predecessor “wiretapped” him in Trump Tower.

Even after the claim was rejected by FBI Director Jim Comey and congressional intelligence committees, enough people cling to the claptrap that it pollutes the public mind.

Yet try as he might, away from Trump’s firecrackers and smoke bombs, the real story is emerging and expanding.

There is the revelation that, prior to being named a Trump adviser, Carter Page had once passed along documents to Russian operatives trying to recruit Americans.

And that Erik Prince — founder of the mercenary firm once known as Blackwater — reportedly represented Trump in a January meeting with a Russian emissary in the Seychelles.

And that in December, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Sergey Gorkov, owner of a government-owned development bank that is under U.S. sanctions.

Changing the subject is easy. Burying facts is hard.