James Clapper: ‘It’s possible’ that Trump’s voice was picked up by Manafort wiretap

“It’s certainly conceivable,” Clapper said on CNN.

When asked by host Don Lemon if it was likely, Clapper said he couldn’t say, but again asserted that there is a chance.

“I wouldn’t want to go there, but I will say it’s possible,” Clapper said.

A CNN report earlier in the week said that Manafort had been wiretapped under a FISA warrant over suspicions that Manafort had encouraged some of the Russian activities to interfere in last year’s elections.

Manafort’s spokesman, Jason Maloni, condemned the report, saying “If true, it is a felony to reveal the existence of a FISA warrant, regardless of the fact that no charges ever emerged.”

Clapper, who was DNI under former President Barack Obama, repeatedly said on Wednesday he could not comment on the media reporting about FISA orders, but did defer to an interview he did in March on “Meet the Press” in which he said the intelligence community that he oversaw did not conduct wiretap activity on Trump or his campaign. He couched that response on his inability to speak for other authorized government entities not under his purview, but did say that if the FBI obtain a FISA warrant on something like this, he would have known about it.

Earlier this year Trump claimed in March, without evidence, that he had been wiretapped by the Obama administration. However, the Department of Justice acknowledged in a court filing earlier this month that it had no evidence of any wiretaps on Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.

The White House has said Trump was referring to surveillance in general and the White House has pointed to reports that indicate there were surveillance efforts against Trump before he took office.

Clapper stressed to Lemon on Wednesday that he did not know about any wiretaps directed at Manafort and reasserted that all there is to go on at the moment is media reporting.