Did James Clapper Lie To Congress About Briefing Obama On Flynn’s Phone Calls?

Former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper testified to Congress in July of 2017 that he never briefed then-President Barack Obama on the substance of phone calls between Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak and incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Accounts from fired former Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) executives James Comey and Andrew McCabe, however, directly contradict Clapper’s claim under oath that he never briefed Obama on the conversations between Flynn and Kislyak which were used to justify Flynn’s ouster as President Donald Trump’s top foreign policy adviser.

The identities of the Obama administration officials who were aware of the calls between Flynn and Kislyak have become a key question in the investigation of U.S. attorney John Durham to determine whether any laws were broken during the course of the Crossfire Hurricane probe of the Trump campaign. The substance of those calls, which is classified at the highest levels, was leaked to multiple Washington Post reporters in early January in order to create a pretext for the FBI to interview Flynn. Handwritten documents from Bill Priestap, the FBI’s top counterintelligence official at the time, show that FBI officials wanted to use the calls and their interview of Flynn to “get him fired” as Trump’s national security adviser.

On July 17, 2017, Clapper was called to testify before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as part of the committee’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections. During that testimony, Clapper repeatedly testified that he was bothered to learn that Flynn, at the time the incoming president’s designee to serve as White House National Security Adviser, had repeatedly spoken to foreign leaders, such as Kislyak, during the presidential transition.

“Do you know who told you about the conversation [between Flynn and Kislyak]?” Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., asked Clapper.

“Bobb Litt, my general counsel,” Clapper said.

“Did you ever brief President Obama on the phone call, the Flynn-Kislyak phone calls?” Rooney asked.

“No,” Clapper replied.

James Comey and Andrew McCabe, the director and deputy director of the FBI, respectively, both of whom were fired for corruption, directly contradicted Clapper’s testimony..

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