The following article by Linda Qiu was posted on the New York Times website May 24, 2018:
James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, said and has continued to say the exact opposite.
WHAT WAS SAID
THE FACTS
False.
President Trump made a version of this claim on Wednesday morning, misquoting James R. Clapper Jr., who was the director of national intelligence under President Barack Obama. It was not true at the time and it remains inaccurate.
Mr. Clapper was asked on “The View” on Tuesday whether the F.B.I. was spying on Mr. Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election.
“No, they were not. They were spying on, a term I don’t particularly like, but on what the Russians were doing. Trying to understand were the Russians infiltrating, trying to gain access, trying to gain leverage or influence, which is what they do,” he responded.
As The New York Times wrote on Wednesday:
“In other words, Mr. Clapper used the word ‘spy’ to describe intelligence gathering on Russian efforts to influence the election. He explicitly denied that the F.B.I. ‘spied’ on Mr. Trump’s campaign.”
Mr. Clapper made several other television appearances following Mr. Trump’s claim on Wednesday. Throughout, he maintained that F.B.I. agents did not infiltrate Mr. Trump’s campaign for political purposes. He also repeatedly called the use of an informant “benign.”
Here’s what Mr. Clapper said in a CNN interview on Wednesday afternoon:
Jake Tapper: “Did the intelligence community spy on President Trump and his campaign?”
Mr. Clapper: “No, we did not. And that is a distortion of what I said. In fact, I had an aversion to the use of the term, and I thought I made that clear.
And the important thing is here, what was this all about? Well, what it was about was trying to determine what the Russians were doing, were they trying to gain access, infiltrate political campaign. It didn’t matter what the — which campaign. And had nothing to do with spying on the campaign and it was about the Russians which is what we should all be concerned about, to include Trump.”
And on PBS NewsHour on Wednesday night:
Judy Woodruff: “President Trump said this morning, regarding allegation that the FBI used an informant during the 2016 campaign, he said: ‘I hope it’s not so, but if it is, there’s never been anything like it in the history of our country.’ “He went on to say, ‘If you look at Clapper, he sort of admitted that they had spies in the campaign, inadvertently. I hope it’s not true, but it looks like it is.’”
Mr. Clapper: “Well, I think he’s kind of distorted what I was trying to say, which was — actually took aversion to the term spy, which I don’t like anyway, but particularly it’s inappropriate in this context.
A big gulf between a spy in the traditional sense employing spycraft or tradecraft, and an informant, who’s open about what — who he was and the questions he was asking. The intent, though, is the important thing, wasn’t to spy on the campaign, but rather to determine what the Russians were up to.
Were they trying to penetrate the campaign, gain access, gain leverage, gain influence? And that was the concern that the FBI had. And I think they were just doing their job and trying to protect our political system.”
WHAT WAS SAID
THE FACTS
This requires context.
Last August, The New York Times obtained three years’ worth of internal F.B.I. questionnaires showing that, overall, agents around the United States gave high marks to the bureau’s leadership and James B. Comey, who had been fired as its director in May 2017.
On a range from one to five — five being the highest — Mr. Comey scored “above 4 as both an inspiring leader and someone more interested in leading than being liked,” The Times reported. “His direct subordinates rated him 4.48 on the question of whether they would work with him again.”
Of course, the F.B.I. is not a monolithic organization and certain former agents have certainly expressed dissatisfaction with Mr. Comey. For example, three former agents told National Review magazine that Mr. Comey was damaging the reputation of the F.B.I. by putting it — and himself — in the spotlight by publicly feuding with Mr. Trump.
Similarly, agents offered diverse views on Andrew G. McCabe, who was fired from his post as F.B.I. deputy director in March, just one day before he was set to retire. Some defended Mr. McCabe as a “good man and public servant,” while others called his dismissal justified.
It’s likely that Mr. Comey drew Mr. Trump’s ire by indirectly — but clearly — rebuking the president on Wednesday for Mr. Trump’s accusations of F.B.I. agents spying on his campaign.
Source: Twitter, CNN, PBS, The New York Times
Correction:
An earlier version of this article misstated the position Andrew G. McCabe held at the F.B.I. when he was fired in March. At the time, he was the deputy director, not the acting director.