Amash says the director of national intelligence committed perjury. Amash calls for Clapper to quit

Rep. Justin Amash took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to call for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to resign from his post.

Amash said Clapper committed perjury when he was asked in a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in March by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked him specifically if data from Americans was being stored by the agency.


Clapper responded, “No sir.”

After revelations last week that the NSA has been amassing billions of phone records from Americans from domestic phone calls, critics have pointed to Clapper’s response as evidence he sought to lie about the program.

“Perjury is a serious crime,” Amash posted on Twitter. “Mr. Clapper should resign immediately.”

The Michigan Republican also wrote, “It now appears clear that the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, lied under oath to Congress and the American people.”

Amash wrote that Clapper should have responded, “That’s classified” or “I can’t answer that” instead of flatly denying that the NSA was collecting data.

“Members of Congress can’t make informed decisions on intelligence issues when head of intel community willfully makes false statements,” Amash wrote.

On Tuesday, Wyden stopped short of criticizing Clapper directly or calling for his resignation, but pointed out while talking to reporters that he had the ability to modify his questions after the hearing and that he was given the questions in advance.

“Now public hearings are needed to address the recent disclosures and the American people have the right to expect straight answers from the intelligence leadership to the questions asked by their representatives,” Wyden said in a statement.