James Clapper, former director of national intelligence, refuted a statement made by President Trump in Poland about the possibility of other countries, other than Russia, being involved in election meddling.
“We saw no evidence whatsoever there was anyone involved in this other than the Russians,” Clapper said Thursday on CNN.
During a stop in Poland, before he headed to Germany for the G-20 summit, Trump was asked if he could say for sure whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election. He replied, “I think it was Russia and I think it could have been other people in other countries.”
An intelligence community report published in January asserted that Russia was behind the interference in the 2016 election, working to undermine the candidacy of Democrat Hillary Clinton in favor of Trump. A federal investigation and a number of congressional probes are now looking into Russian interference and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
Up until now, there has been no reports of efforts by other countries to manipulate the election. Clapper said on CNN on Thursday that Trump was briefed on Russia’s meddling on Jan. 6 by four leaders in the intelligence community, including himself, and that there is nothing he knows of to support Trump floating the idea of other foreign actors getting involved.
“As far as others doing this, well that’s news to me,” Clapper said.
Former DNI James Clapper says he did not see evidence of anyone but Russia meddling in the 2016 US election https://t.co/vgG76UiRRk— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 6, 2017
Clapper resigned from his post leading the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Jan. 20, the day Trump was sworn in.
He also addressed recent clarifications issued by news outlets about the number of intelligence agencies that put together the Russia intelligence report, including the Associated Press. The AP last week corrected reports in which it said 17 intelligence agencies “agreed” that Russia hacked the election. However, these outlets now acknowledge, that report was conducted by the NSA, FBI CIA and published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. While ODNI represents all 17 intelligence agencies, its assessment was not approved by all 17 agencies.
“How the narrative got out about 17 components being involved, I don’t know,” Clapper said on CNN. “The report itself makes it clear that it was the three agencies plus the office of director of national intelligence that put this intelligence community assessment together.”
