The House Intelligence Committee’s report on Russian activities during the 2016 election accuses former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper of providing “inconsistent testimony” about his contact with the media.
Clapper, now a CNN analyst, allegedly changed his story about his interaction with journalists regarding an opposition research dossier on then-President-elect Trump.
[Related: Trump ‘honored’ by ‘no collusion’ House Intel report on Russia]
The former spy chief initially said he did not speak with journalists about a secret intelligence assessment containing the information, before later admitting he discussed the dossier with CNN reporter Jake Tapper and possibly others, the report said.
A spokesman for the committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the committee will seek criminal charges. Last month, Clapper avoided charges for a separate alleged lie to Congress due to a five-year statute of limitations.
A spokesman for Clapper did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the report, Clapper “flatly denied” during a July 2017 interview with the committee “discuss[ing] the dossier [compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele] or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists.”
Later in the same interview, Clapper “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 said.
The report linked Clapper’s conversation with Tapper to a report that opened the door for disclosure of the dossier, which contained salacious claims about a footage involving prostitutes, just before Trump’s inauguration.
The report said: “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.'”
After CNN’s report, BuzzFeed News published the full dossier.
“The Committee assesses that leaks to CNN about the dossier were especially significant, since CNN’s report ‘that 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 said.
The Intelligence Committee report found no evidence of Trump colluding with Russia to influence the election.
