Former director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the FBI was simply trying to answer the question, "Were the Russians infiltrating, trying to gain access, trying to gain leverage and influence?" | Alex Wong/Getty Images Clapper: FBI was not spying on Trump

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Tuesday that the FBI was not at any point spying on the Trump campaign.

“They were not. They were spying — a term I don't particularly like — on what the Russians were doing," Clapper said during an appearance on The View to promote his new book, “Facts and Fears: Hard Truths From A Life In Intelligence.”


The FBI, Clapper said, was simply trying to answer the question, "Were the Russians infiltrating, trying to gain access, trying to gain leverage and influence?"

Clapper's comments came shortly after the Justice Department, under pressure from the White House, agreed to review allegations by Trump and his allies that the president's campaign was inappropriately surveilled in 2016.

According to media reports, an FBI informant made contact with several members of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election as part of the bureau's probe into potential collusion with Russian officials on their attempts to interfere in the presidential race.

Breaking News Alerts Get breaking news when it happens — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

But Trump and his backers have accused law enforcement officials of working to infiltrate the Trump campaign with the motivation of undermining the real estate mogul's White House bid.

Clapper on Tuesday defended the use of an informant, characterizing it as “a fairly benign tool available to the FBI, given all the other capabilities available” to the agency.

The Trump administration is also pushing for a review of the information collected by the informant and interviews with the FBI officials who made the decision to connect the informant with the campaign.