Former DNI Clapper Impressed By Quality Of Whistleblower Complaint

on January 10, 2017 in Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 10: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan (L-R) testify before the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senat... WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 10: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan (L-R) testify before the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill January 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. The intelligence heads testified to the committee about cyber threats to the United States and fielded questions about effects of Russian government hacking on the 2016 presidential election. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Thursday that the whistleblower’s complaint that prompted the House of Representatives to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s actions was the best documented he had ever seen.

“I’ve seen a lot of whistleblower complaints during the time I was DNI, and this had to be the best composed, best written, best documented such complaint I’ve ever seen,” Clapper told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview.

It was “obviously done by a seasoned, mature, capable intelligence professional, written like an intelligence document,” he continued, “And it’s very clear. He points out what he knows — he or she, whoever it is. So I thought it was very compelling.”

Clapper, who served as director of national intelligence for nearly seven years during the Obama administration, previously served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency during the Clinton administration and director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for five years during George W. Bush’s presidency.

The interview came just a few hours after one of Clapper’s successors at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, testified before the House Intelligence Committee about the whistleblower complaint.

Earlier Thursday, The New York Times reported that the whistleblower who wrote the complaint, which focuses on the events surrounding a call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was a CIA officer who’d been detailed to the White House.

The President on Thursday implied that whoever leaked information to the whistleblower ought to be treated like a spy, which Clapper and others have said raises concerns of retaliation.

“At a minimum, it is witness retaliation,” Clapper said. “It actually conflicts with the spirit of the intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, because one of the purposes is to insulate complainants from retaliation. Clearly, this is retaliation threatened in the worst way.”

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for jmacaz jmacaz says:

    At a minimum, it is witness retaliation

    SOP for tRump.

  2. Current Occupant calls for Clapper to be “taken care of” in 3,2,1…

  3. “It actually conflicts with the spirit of the intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, because one of the purposes is to insulate complainants from retaliation. Clearly, this is retaliation threatened in the worst way.”

    Oh, boy!!! Another article of Impeachment.

    Donnie should just shut his piehole before he talks himself right into Leavenworth.

  4. Trump’s trash. All the way to the bone.

  5. I look forward to the depths to which he’ll descend - hopefully in one of his calls to F&Friends, so they can sit there trying not to look horrified.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

96 more replies

Participants

Avatar for dr_coyote Avatar for slbinva Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for rollinnolan Avatar for teenlaqueefa Avatar for becca656 Avatar for lastroth Avatar for cd Avatar for left_in_washington_state Avatar for phrostbyte Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for ted Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for tena Avatar for beattycat Avatar for michaelryerson Avatar for coimmigrant Avatar for kelaine Avatar for skeptical Avatar for carolson Avatar for timorwig Avatar for kovie Avatar for VeganMilitia

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: