‘Profound dismay’: DNI Clapper meets with Trump over ‘unverified’ dossier leak
Published time: 12 Jan, 2017 11:07
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in a rare statement that he met with President-elect Donald Trump to express “profound dismay” at the recent leak of intelligence documents.
At the heart of the matter is a document first published by BuzzFeed on Tuesday, which Clapper stressed was “not a US Intelligence Community product” in his press release Wednesday evening.
In their Wednesday meeting, Clapper says he and Trump discussed how the documents were circulated around the media and members of Congress before the intelligence community (IC) “became aware of it.”
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Clapper also said the allegations had come from a “private security company,” and that US spy agencies had “not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable.”
He went on to state, however, that “part of our obligations is to ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security.”
Clapper’s statement that the dossier came from a private security company aligns with a report from the Wall Street Journal, which stated that Christopher Steele, a director of the London-based Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd., compiled the report, citing “people familiar with the matter.” Steele’s business partner, Christopher Burrows, said he would not “confirm or deny” that claim.
However, users of the website 4chan – the largely anonymous message board known for launching memes – claims the story involving Trump, prostitutes, urination and a Moscow hotel room previously occupied by the Obamas originated on the site as a gag.
Calling the documents “fanfiction,” a user says that he sent the document to “anti-Trump pundit” Rick Wilson, who gave it to the CIA, which then classified the document in its official intelligence reports on the election. Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) also copped to his own role in spreading the disinformation to the FBI.
https://www.rt.com/usa/373428-clapper-trump-meeting-report/