Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper allegedly leaked information to CNN in early last year regarding the classified briefing given to then President-Elect Donald Trump and President Barrack Obama on the salacious dossier and its contents claiming the Russians had compromising information on the president-elect, according to government sources, who noted the evidence of the leak was collected during the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation.

Clapper, who was one of four senior Obama administration officials to attend the briefing with the presidents, also stated his “profound dismay at the leaks” in an official statement issued in January, 2017 and warned that the leaks were “extremely corrosive and damaging” to national security, according to the press release.

But according to government sources Clapper, who is not mentioned in the report released Monday, had spoken to CNN at roughly the same time Jake Tapper broke the first story on CNN regarding the briefing conducted by senior Obama officials with then President-elect Trump and President Obama regarding the dossier.Tapper’s story which was published in January 2017, created a snowball effect of allegations in the media that Trump’s campaign had allegedly colluded with the Russians in the 2016 election and that Russia had compromising material on Trump, sources with knowledge of the investigation concluded.

Clapper was one of four senior Obama administration officials to brief Obama and Trump on the dossier in December 2016. FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan and National Security Administration Director Mike Rogers were also present at the December briefings.

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