Clapper pushes back against Trump: Russia probe not a ‘witch hunt’

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Friday rebutted President Donald Trump, who cited the former Obama administration official’s past testimony as evidence that a federal investigation is a “witch hunt.”

“When James Clapper himself, and virtually everyone else with knowledge of the witch hunt, says there is no collusion, when does it end?” Trump tweeted Friday morning.


With the FBI continuing its probe into Russia’s meddling in last year’s presidential election without James Comey, who was fired as FBI director on Tuesday, the Russia narrative continues to engulf Trump’s presidency. The intelligence community has concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 campaign with the aim of elevating Trump into the White House over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The FBI and House and Senate intelligence committees are investigating the matter, including possible collusion between Trump associates and Russians.

“I don’t know if there was collusion or not,” Clapper told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell in an interview Friday afternoon. “I don’t know if there’s evidence of collusion or not, nor should I have.”

Asked if the Russia probe is “fake news” or a “witch hunt,” as Trump has claimed, Clapper said, “I don’t believe it is, but that’s kind of irrelevant.”

“I think what needs to happen here is to clear this cloud, the cloud that’s hanging over the administration, over the president, over the White House,” he continued. “And it would be in everyone’s best interest to get to the bottom of this — and for the country, otherwise this is gonna continue to linger as a dark cloud over, in my opinion, over this administration.”

In an interview Thursday with NBC News, the president called Comey a “showboat” and said he personally asked the FBI director on three occasions whether he was under investigation.

“That’s not how I would characterize him,” Clapper said of Comey being a “showboat.” “Obviously, everyone has their own view, but that would be the last description I would assign to Jim Comey.”

Clapper confirmed a dinner meeting between Trump and Comey. He said Comey was invited but felt “uneasy” about the perception of the FBI director meeting with the president. In Trump’s telling, Comey told him at dinner — and over two phone calls — that he was not under investigation.

“Obviously, I don’t know what was actually said at the dinner — I wasn’t there — but I would find that very inconsistent with what I know of Jim Comey,” Clapper said. “And it would really be, I think, inappropriate and certainly in Jim’s case out of character for him to ask to stay on.”

In yet another contradiction with the White House narrative, Clapper highlighted the difficulty in assessing morale at an institution as large as the FBI but maintained that in his view, “the morale at the FBI was very high.”

“And I can attest personally because I witnessed the very high esteem and respect that people in the FBI have — still have — for Jim Comey,” he added. “Sure, some people probably didn’t like some things he did, but I think overall as far as Jim’s stature as a public servant, a consummate public servant in my view, he was tremendous.”