The report released Friday by the House Intelligence Committee regarding its investigation into alleged Russian collusion by the president’s election campaign appears to contain a stunning truth bomb about CNN host Jake Tapper: He may have participated in political espionage, according to one high-profile attorney.

In early 2017 he allowed then-National Intelligence Director James Clapper to leak information to him about the infamous Trump dossier and about a high-level government meeting held between then-President-elect Donald Trump and then-FBI Director James Comey.

“Clapper’s discussion with Tapper took place in early January 2017, around the time IC [intelligence community] leaders briefed President Obama and President-elect Trump, on” the dossier, the report specifically reads.

Afterward Tapper and three of his colleagues published a story containing the information Clapper had provided him, including info about the highly classified dossier.

All this matters because Clapper later lied to Congress about the dossier’s leak and then wound up becoming a contributor at CNN.

“When initially asked about leaks related to the ICA in July 2017, former ONI Clapper flatly denied ‘discussing[ing] the dossier [compiled by Steele] or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists,'” the report notes.

One month later, Clapper officially joined CNN as a contributor.

When combined, these various facts form the basis for a political espionage charge, according to Vegas attorney and political commentator Robert Barnes.

And since Tapper contributed to Clapper’s espionage by accepting his classified information and then sharing it with the masses, he’s equally guilty, according to Barnes.

“[J]ournalists are not exempt from criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act,” Barnes tweeted Friday. “Indeed, it appears what @jaketapper did is worse than what his CIA allies said Assange should go to prison for.”

While it is rare, and should be limited in its use, @jaketapper may want to lawyer-up: journalists are not exempt from criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act. Indeed, it appears what @jaketapper did is worse than what his CIA allies said Assange should go to prison for. — Robert Barnes (@Barnes_Law) April 27, 2018

Someone is desperate to change the headlines today. I wonder if it relates to @jaketapper acting as a co-conspirator with @CNN paid employee (and proven perjurer) Clapper coordinating with @Comey to illegally leak classified information to CNN to spread Trump smear? https://t.co/zjnhOdBv5E — Robert Barnes (@Barnes_Law) April 27, 2018

Barnes’ thesis certainly fits with the definition of espionage, which The Free Dictionary defines as “the practice of secretly gathering information about a foreign government or a competing industry, with the purpose of placing one’s own government or corporation at some strategic or financial advantage.”

While Clapper clearly leaked information about the debunked dossier to damage Trump, Tapper likewise clearly accepted and then published the information to boost CNN’s ratings and thus its bottom line. Oh, what a tangled Web we weave when we conspire to profit achieve.

Whether or not Tapper will actually face political espionage charges remains unknown, though given Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ stubborn unwillingness to prosecute evildoers, the chances honestly seem unlikely.

If someone were to inform the president of Tapper’s actions, on the other hand …

I mean, we all know how Trump feels about CNN. Just wait until he finds out it potentially engaged in political espionage!