Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper slammed the memo compiled by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee alleging abuses of a government surveillance program, calling it a “hit job” designed to attack the FBI and the Justice Department.

“Well I think this is a hit job, more or less, to attack the FBI, attack the Department of Justice and inferentially, or by extension, the Mueller investigation,” Clapper told CNN on Wednesday. “I think the whole point here was to discredit all this.”

Clapper characterized Friday's memo release as a “drive-by shooting in the interest of defending” President Trump, and said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is acting as an “agent of the White House.”

“Now the committee is paralyzed with partisanship and is completely dysfunctional,” Clapper said. “It’s a sad thing to see. “

Former DNI James Clapper says the House Intelligence Committee is not capable of doing its job "in the manner it was intended" under Chairman Devin Nunes, adding that the Nunes memo is "a hit job" against the intelligence community https://t.co/whw1pLFuJD— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 7, 2018



The former intelligence chief stressed that despite Trump’s hopes of the memo proving there is bias against Republicans and him within the ranks of the FBI and Justice Department, no such point was proven.

“He was not vindicated,” Clapper said. “The memo doesn’t do anything of the sort.”

Following a party-line vote last week, Trump declassified and the House Intelligence Committee released the memo compiled by Nunes and Republican committee staff.

The memo outlines how officials within the Justice Department and the FBI used information contained in the unverified dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele in an application for a warrant to conduct surveillance on Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser.

According to the memo, the FBI and Justice Department didn't tell a judge the research for the dossier was funded by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Democrats have refuted the information contained in the memo and said it mischaracterizes highly classified intelligence.

The House Intelligence Committee voted Monday to make public a competing memo compiled by Democrats, and it is currently under review by the White House.