Clapper: We only did 'what we were told to' by Obama

FPI / October 10, 2019

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that the Department of Justice’s investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe is “disconcerting” because he and his intelligence community colleagues had only “done what we were told to do by the president.”

That president would be Barack Obama.

In an Oct. 7 interview, CNN’s Jim Sciutto asked Clapper: “As you know, the President has members of this government, you have the Attorney General traveling the world now meeting with U.S. intelligence partners trying to find out, in his view, whether they participated in some sort of Obama administration led effort to undermine President Trump in the last election here. You also know that John Durham who is a prosecutor here, a senior justice department official, he’s pursuing his own investigations on the origins of that probe. Are you concerned that Barr’s or Durham’s investigation will find wrongdoing and seek to punish former intelligence officials?”

Clapper responded: “Well, I uh, I don’t know. I, I, I don’t think there was any wrongdoing. I think at the time all of us were trying to navigate a very, very difficult, politically fraught, highly charged situation. I know, for my part, my main concern was the Russians, and the threat posed by the Russians to our very political fabric. The message I’m getting from all this is, apparently what we were supposed to have done was to ignore the Russian interference, ignore the Russian meddling and the threat that it poses to us, and oh, by the way, blown off what the then commander-in-chief, President Obama, told us to do, which was to assemble all the reporting that we could that we had available to us — and put it in one report that the president could pass on to the Congress and to the next administration. And while we’re at it, declassify as much as we possibly could to make it public, and that’s what we did.”

Sciutto: “One issue I’m — (crosstalk)”

Clapper: “It’s kind of disconcerting now to be investigated for, you know, having done our duty and done what we were told to do by the president.”

Clapper’s revelation on Oct. 7, analysts say, is another major sign that the deep state is in panic mode as the DOJ investigates the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation.

Radio host Rush Limbaugh said: “Folks, can you say in any other time and place ‘bombshell?’ ”

“I’ve been waiting for this,” Limbaugh said. “A lot of people have been waiting for this. Here’s Clapper saying, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong! We didn’t do anything wrong, ’cause we were doing what Obama told us to do.’ The question he was asked is (summarized), ‘Are you worried about this investigation that Barr and his team’s running against you? Are you worried? You, Clapper and Brennan, are you guys worried?’ (muttering) ‘Oh, no. Of course not. Why? (muttering) The president told us to do all that! (muttering) Obama was the president of the United States. Uhhh, the chief executive, uh, commander-in-chief told us to do all that.’ ”

RedState’s Elizabeth Vaughn noted that Clapper “makes these statements in such a deadpan voice, we don’t realize at first the gravity of his words. But this is the first time a deep state insider has connected Obama to this travesty.”



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