Clapper: Trump 'treasonous conspiracy' accusation 'ridiculous'
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper blasted President Trump on Wednesday over his latest claims that the Obama administration committed "treason" and misled the public about Russia's attempted interference in the 2016 election.
"I take seriously when the president of the United States accuses me of being a participant in a treasonous conspiracy, which is ridiculous," Clapper, who was Obama's intelligence chief from 2011 to 2017, told CNN's Kaitlan Collins in an interview on her show "The Source." "It's ridiculous; it's just — it is untrue."
Clapper said he has attorneys on call in case the Department of Justice attempts to pursue legal action against him.
"We've had sort of perpetual attorneys, since I left the government in 2017," he told Collins.
Current Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, an Army Reserve officer and former Democrat from Hawaii, discussed the new Russia investigation claims at the White House on Wednesday, following the release of a trove of documents alleging Obama-era officials misled the public about Russia's role in the 2016 election when Trump won his first White House term.
Gabbard told reporters the document trove was especially damning for Clapper, Obama, former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey.
"We have referred and will continue to refer all of these documents to the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate the criminal implications of this," she said. "The evidence that we have found and that we have released directly points to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment."
"There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact," Gabbard added.
Trump on Tuesday accused Obama and top officials in his administration of "treason," which is a crime punishable by death in the U.S.
"This was treason," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "They tried to steal the election; they tried to obfuscate the election."
"They did things that nobody's ever even imagined, even in other countries," the president added.
Trump's comments prompted a rare public rebuke from Obama's team, noting it doesn't normally comment on "constant nonsense and misinformation" from the Trump White House but felt the "treason" claims had crossed to being worthy of response.
“These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction," Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush said in a statement.
The document dump last week did not provide direct evidence contrary to standing conclusions that Russia tried to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not manipulate votes directly. A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee review, led by then-Florida senator and now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, backed up the findings in a 2020 report.