Declassified Congressional Report: James Clapper Lied About Dossier Leaks To CNN
April 27, 2018
A newly declassified report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections reveals that former intelligence chief James Clapper lied to Congress about information he shared with CNN on the infamous Steele dossier.
Buried within a newly declassified congressional report on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections is a shocking revelation: former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper not only leaked information about the infamous Steele dossier and high-level government briefings about it to CNN, he also may have lied to Congress about the matter.
In one of the findings within the 253-page report, the House intelligence committee wrote that Clapper leaked details of a dossier briefing given to then-President-elect Donald Trump to CNN’s Jake Tapper, lied to Congress about the leak, and was rewarded with a CNN contract a few months later.
“Clapper flatly denied ‘discussing[ing] the dossier [compiled by Steele] or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists,'” the committee found.
When asked directly whether he had ever discussed the dossier with any journalists, Clapper replied that he had not, according to a transcript of the proceedings:
MR. ROONEY: Did you discuss the dossier or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists?
MR. CLAPPER: No.
The former DNI later changed his story after he was confronted specifically about his communications with Jake Tapper of CNN.
“Clapper subsequently acknowledged discussing the ‘dossier with CNN journalist Jake Tapper,’ and admitted that he might have spoken with other journalists about the same topic,” the report continued. “Clapper’s discussion with Tapper took place in early January 2017, around the time IC leaders briefed President Obama and President-elect Trump, on ‘the Christopher Steele information,’ a two-page summary of which was ‘enclosed in’ the highly-classified version of the ICA,” or intelligence community assessment.
The briefing of Trump by U.S. intelligence chiefs was held on January 6. CNN published its story on the briefing , based on anonymous leaks from “two national security officials,” on January 10. BuzzFeed published the full dossier , which was jointly funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee , minutes after the CNN story was published.
The revelation that Clapper was responsible for leaking details of both the dossier and briefings to two presidents on the matter is significant, because former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey wrote in one of four memos that he leaked that the briefing of Trump on salacious and unverified allegations from the dossier was necessary because “CNN had them and were looking for a news hook.”
The congressional report on Russian interference noted that it was this very briefing of Trump that multiple media organizations used as an excuse to publish the unverified dossier.
“The Committee assesses that leaks to CNN about the dossier were especially significant, since CNN’s report ‘ that a two-page synopsis of the report was given to President Obama and Trump’ was the proximate cause of BuzzFeed News’ decision to publish the dossier for the first time just a few hours later,” the report stated. “Until that point, the dossier had been ‘circulating among elected official, intelligence agents, and journalists,’ but remained unpublished. As the accompanying article explained, ‘[n]ow BuzzFeed News is publishing the full document so that Americans can make up their own minds about allegations about the president-elect that have circulated at the highest levels of government.”
As The Federalist ‘s Mollie Hemingway noted after Comey’s memos were finally made available to the public, the fired FBI director’s account of the briefing of Trump suggested that the entire briefing was a setup from the beginning , and that it was scheduled and held just so it could be leaked to journalists who wanted an excuse to publish a dossier nobody had verified.
In their coordinated response to the full intelligence committee’s findings, committee Democrats defended Clapper, claiming that he broke no laws while acknowledging that he did leak information about the dossier to CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“Evaluated in context, Clapper denied leaking classified information, while acknowledging that, as DNI, he engaged in legitimate discussion of unclassified, non-intelligence information with Tapper,” they concluded .
Clapper, who previously lied to Congress about whether the U.S. government was electronically spying on millions of Americans, was subsequently hired by CNN just months after his leak. Although he eventually apologized to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for lying to Congress about government mass surveillance of American citizens, he subsequently told MSNBC that the question to which he responded–“Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”–was a gotcha question similar to, “When did you stop beating your wife?”
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A big part of the real collusion soon to be on your TV screens.
Since this article was put up it has become even more evident Comey is a leaker and a liar. And imagine the head of the most lasciviously supported agency in the entire world not up to date with the facts and the Left falling all over it even when he says he doesn't know who paid for the Fake Dossier. It's amazing how this man ever moved up the line to become the FBI Director in the first place.
The dossier isn't fake, none of it has been proven false other than a few misspelled names, while much of it has been verified. And as for leaking, if this was some career FBI director who leaked critical details about the Clinton's, you'd all be cheering and wanting to award the guy a medal. Conservative Republican hypocrisy knows no bounds.
Got links? I don't mean to still unverifiable accusations, but to actual proof that the dossier has been proven true. So far I haven't seen any real proof other than somebody who knew somebody who knew a Russian...
Now I'm not T-Rump supporter, but I'm hoping for something better than wishful thinking to hang him by.
Verified: Russia Meddled to Help Trump Win the Presidency
Verified: Putin Directed It All
Verified: Donald Trump Jr.’s Meeting With a Russian Lawyer
Verified: Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page met with representatives of Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft.
Verified: The Kremlin targeted educated youth and swing state voters during its cyber attacks in the 2016 campaign.
Verified: Trump maintains ties to rich businessmen from Azerbaijan.
If you have been hoping, you realize you have been hoping for a long time and if you have been paying attention, then you realize the corruption from the Democrats and their cohorts played a much bigger role in meddling with the 2016 election.
The one statement of Hillary calling half the nation deplorables did her more harm than all the other meddling put together.
The ridiculous ruling Comey put forth on her email scandal also played a major part in Hillary losing because it was so ridiculous and obviously flawed with Comey exonerating her two months before she or any of the other 20 or so witnesses were interviewed.
The lack of a real investigation into Hillary's corruption with that email account, destroying thousands of emails and equipment and not facing what any other citizen would face by committing the same crimes.
That's just a start. I don't care for Trump's style for the most part, except Trump has put a roadblock in the Left's idea of what they want this country to become and that appears to be a European Socialist Society. The unions basically run Germany. Nothing is done without the unions approval.
A lot of assumptions there from your left wing media and none of them have been proven to be true the way they are being presented. Until the Intelligence Agencies that were involved in the 2016 election have been investigated with all the lying coming out of them and any proof that Trump was instrumental in any meddling has been shown to be true, none of your links mean a thing.
Is that the way justice works in your world?
You mean like the way that Bernie got torpedoed?
Yeah, good thing I don't hold my breath waiting for an HONEST politician to get elected!
Did you read your first link at all? The only thing "proven" has been that some people know each other and the Ruskies took out ads on Facebook and posed as American's on there to promote a candidate over another. If there was any REAL proof, this A-Hole would already be indicted!
The second and third links deal with alleging misconduct, or better yet, haven't been proven as criminal or really anything other than conjecture. Did T-Rump pay some hookers to piss on a bed???? Unless you have a video tape with audio where he is caught handing over money for a specific reason to piss on a bed Obama slept in, you don't have JACK SHIT except allegations!
Cohen? Let me ask you this: Has he been arrested? No? THANK YOU! Once again, there are suspicions. not any actual proof or his ass would be in jail.
Hell, the first article claims Page met with Sechin and then goes on to say "Oh no, he actually met with some other guys" (sic).
Now, AGAIN, I ask for PROOF! Give me some links that actually have something I can sink my teeth into because NOTHING in this world would make me happier than seeing a guy that pretty much financed his own election being outed as being just as corrupt as all the rest of these asshole--- which would be the goddamn alarm clock going off in this fucking country to wake up EVERYONE to just how fucked up this government REALLY is!
Isn't lying to congress a criminal offense?
Yes it is, but these are strange times. Some people can leak, lie and commit all kinds of crimes without any consequences while others are charged and convicted for doing the same thing. They seem to get away with this fraud and if you aren't interested in the truth you will find yourself accepting it as proper.