“Transparency is a great thing, but let’s be factual and objective about it, and this clearly is a pretty blatant political act,” Clapper said on CNN’s “New Day.”

"Absolutely they should conduct oversight, but there's a process for this that is discreet and confidential" Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says of the House Intelligence Committee https://t.co/S7q0EwYEYa pic.twitter.com/aexA38Sfti — New Day (@NewDay) February 2, 2018

Since the judge extended the original authorization, it indicates the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant was “producing something and information of value,” Clapper said.

“This is not a casual thing,” Clapper said. “There has to be layers of approval and there has to be corroborating evidence. And the court, more importantly, has to approve it.”

“I think this is almost amusing if it wasn’t such a serious topic,” said Clapper, who served as director of national intelligence from 2010 to 2017.