Spy chief trashes leaks, assures Trump of loyalty

[FarCenter]

he U.S. director of national intelligence extended an olive branch of sorts to Donald Trump late Wednesday — denouncing media leaks, casting skepticism on reports that Russia has compromising material on the president-elect, and assuring Trump that America's spies stand ready to serve him.

In a statement, James Clapper said he had spoken Wednesday evening with Trump, days after the spy chief and some of his counterparts met with the incoming president to discuss the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 election, possibly to help him win.

On Tuesday, CNN, BuzzFeed and other media outlets reported that the intelligence officials had told Trump about an unsubstantiated private report that detailed how Russia's government allegedly had salacious information about him. BuzzFeed published the apparent dossier, which Trump has denounced as false.

"I expressed my profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press, and we both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security," Clapper said of the information that has come out since last week's intelligence briefing.

As far as the "private security company document," Clapper said, "I emphasized that this document is not a U.S. Intelligence Community product and that I do not believe the leaks came from within the IC. The IC has not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable, and we did not rely upon it in any way for our conclusions."

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/clapper-trump-233517

DNI Clapper Statement on Conversation with President-elect Trump

https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/224-press-releases-2017/1469-dni-clapper-statement-on-conversation-with-president-elect-trump

[2naSalit]

1. He can't openly endorse

a report that was not produced by USIC. Simple as that. He did not say the information was not credible or untrue.

[JI7]

2. details are important. the headline makes it seem as if he is siding with trump on

whether it's true or not.

but he is pretty much saying what anyone in his position would.

[Dem2]

4. Indeed the politico version was the most negative of the three

stories I found on this.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/11/politics/james-clapper-donald-trump/

Not sure why someone would pick politico over CNN especially after Trump's attacks on CNN today

[.99center]

3. Confirms what CNN reported.

"However, part of our obligation is to ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security."

It was in the briefing and the intelligence community felt that it affected national security.

[doc03]

5. What happened to James Woolsey former CIA head that was working with Trump,

he suddenly quit the Trump team a few days ago and disappeared from the TV machine.