The signal cut out when former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was asked about leaks of classified information to the media.
CNN host John Berman pressed Clapper on the issue Thursday morning, a day after a declassified memo containing a list of Obama administration officials who received information in response to “unmasking” requests pertaining to retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser, was made public. Clapper was on the list, which has generated renewed interest in the mystery of who leaked classified details about Flynn’s conversations with a Russian ambassador to the Washington Post in early 2017.
“Asking for names, nothing wrong with that, unmasking in of itself, nothing wrong with that,” Berman said. “Leaking classified information, and by definition, these phone calls were classified, that’s a problem, correct?”
Clapper, who is now a CNN security analyst, responded that it was “absolutely” a problem for the conversations to be leaked. Before he could answer further, Clapper’s image froze, and soon, his half of the split screen went dark.
Berman brought in CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin while the technical difficulties were worked out. Within minutes, Clapper was back, and Berman returned to asking about leaks. He quickly got to the question of whether Clapper himself was the leaker.
“David Ignatius put out this famous column on Jan. 12 where he mentioned the phone call between Michael Flynn — the Dec. 29 phone call. Did you leak that information?”
“I did not,” Clapper said.
Unmasking occurs when U.S. intelligence agencies eavesdropping on foreigners sweep up communications with U.S. citizens in what is known as incidental collection. When the intelligence reporting is shared across the government, names of U.S. citizens are typically concealed or masked to protect their identities. The names can be unmasked, however, if U.S. officials make the request.
Republicans have alleged since 2017 that Obama-era officials improperly unmasked associates of then-candidate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign during the Russia investigation. Democrats have defended the intelligence-gathering process, arguing that the collection of identifying information is inevitable.
Clapper said during Thursday’s interview that “it’s a routine thing” to request the unmasking of a U.S. citizen’s identity when “you have a valid foreign intelligence target engaging with a U.S. person.” He also said he does not recall what prompted the request “that was made on my behalf for unmasking” in regards to Flynn.
Clapper added that the “general concern” about Flynn’s engagement with Russians during the Trump administration’s transition into the White House was troubling enough to Obama officials to justify investigation.
John Durham, the U.S. attorney picked by Attorney General William Barr to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia inquiry, is scrutinizing the Flynn unmaskings and subsequent leaks as part of his inquiry.
The Connecticut federal prosecutor is reportedly looking into a Jan. 12, 2017, article in the Washington Post by Ignatius, which said Flynn “cultivates close Russian contacts” and cited a “senior U.S. government official” who revealed Flynn had talked to former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak on Dec. 29, 2016, which was the same day former President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian officials. It is likely that this revelation, and subsequent leaks about the alleged contents of Flynn’s discussions with Kislyak, were based on classified information. Ignatius also raised the possibility that Flynn had violated the Logan Act, a rarely enforced law, which former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and other Obama DOJ holdovers at least considered using against Flynn. Ignatius said he wanted answers on those issues about Flynn to avoid a “Shakespearean tragic ending” for Trump’s presidency.
Flynn was briefly Trump’s first national security adviser but was forced to resign in February 2017 as it was believed he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his contacts with then-Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period.
The Justice Department filed on May 7 to dismiss charges against Flynn, who cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian diplomat. The judge presiding over the case invited outside opinions on Tuesday and appointed a retired judge on Wednesday to argue against the Justice Department’s motion.
