The House Intelligence Committee is claiming in its report released last week that the former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper leaked anti-Trump information to the press that was compiled in the Steele “dossier.”
“On January 10, 2017, CNN published an article by Tapper and others, which claimed that ‘classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump included allegations … about Mr. Trump’ that were (1) ‘presented in a two-page synopsis … appended to a report on Russian interference in the 2016 election’ and (2) derived from ‘memos compiled by a former British intelligence operative.,” writes the committee’s report.
“If true, both the national intelligence chief and then-FBI Director James Comey leaked information while denying such violations to Congress. Moreover, even if Clapper waited until shortly after leaving office, it is deeply troubling that he would confirm details of the dossier, which was under investigation,” writes The Hill.
Specifically, the report says that Clapper gave an “inconsistent testimony” to Congress when he denied “discuss[ing] the dossier or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists.”
“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,” writes the committee’s report.
Clapper, now turned paid CNN analyst, admitted to the House Permanent Select Committee that he did brief CNN‘s Jake Tapper in January of 2017, but prior to that, he “flatly denied” leaking any of the information collected in Steele’s dossier.
“Clapper allegedly gave CNN the confirmation around the time that President Obama and President-elect Trump were given classified briefings on the dossier. On Jan. 10, 2017, Tapper and CNN ran with the breaking news that Obama and Trump were briefed on the “memos compiled by a former British intelligence operative.” Tapper cited “U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the briefings” and even described the “two-page synopsis” given to Obama and Trump. (The dossier was published in full by BuzzFeed after CNN’s disclosure,” writes The Hill.
“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,” writes the committee’s report. “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.”
Christoper Steele, an ex- British intelligence officer, was paid by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign to compile a dossier on the Trump campaign.
“I expressed my profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press, and we both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security,” said Clapper after the “dossier” leak.
“I talked about it after I left government,” said Clapper. “I don’t understand how I leaked it to CNN.”
However, Clapper retired in January of 2017. This wasn’t the only time Clapper lied to Congress either. Clapper denied that the NSA was spying on millions of Americans electronically. He eventually publicly apologized for lying to lawmakers and the public.
Author’s note: Clapper is/was compromised by the DNC, Hillary’s campaign and even CNN. This proves that he leaked the fake “dossier,” which was commissioned by the Clinton campaign. His weight behind the leak to CNN gave it credibility. Then since he gave CNN the scoop, they repaid the favor and gave him a job as a commentator.