Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he thinks there are “other shoes to drop” in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Clapper said on CNN’s “State of the Union” the indictment handed down by special counsel Robert Muller on Friday didn’t deal with the involvement of the Russian government or the finances of the Trump Organization. Clapper said he wasn’t sure if there is something illegal in the finances of Trump’s business, but he’s confident Mueller and his team are poring through them.
“The indictment … was very precisely and carefully worded, that the indictment itself reflected no collusion in the same way that it acknowledge that the members of the Trump campaign were unwitting participants in this,” he said.
“I do think there are other shoes to drop here besides this indictment.”
He added, “Not addressed here is potential involvement of the Russian government, which we certainly saw through intelligence channels, that the Russian government was masterminding this. I think another thing that we haven’t seen much of is financial entanglements between the Trump Organization — before the election and then during it.”
Clapper said the Russian government has been trying to interfere in American elections since at least the 1960s, but this was their most successful campaign.
“I don’t think there’s any question about clearly the Russians were trying to effect the election,” he said.
“They had three goals. First was simply to sow discord and discontent in this country, and unfortunately we’re a good target for that right now, and secondly, they hurt Hillary Clinton, which starts with a strong personal animus that Putin has for the Clintons both, and then, of course, as things evolved to support Trump. And they did that well. They’ll continue to do it.”
