Michael Hayden, the former Director of the CIA called out former Director of National Intelligence and Obama surrogate, James Clapper this past Sunday over his claims that Russia not only influenced but decided the 2016 election.
On the same day that Clapper appeared touting his new book, Facts and Fears, Hayden told Martha Raddatz of ABC’s “This Week” that such a claim is patently wrong. How much or for who Russians influenced the election in his words are “unknowable.”
Hayden said, “I agree that the Russians affected the election but how much they affected is not just unknown, it is unknowable and so we should stop talking about it …”
While Hayden is no advocate for President Trump, at least he is intellectually honest enough to reject James Clapper’s dishonest and blatantly biased claims. He criticized Clapper for making unfounded claims and then added an empathic, “Donald Trump is the president.”
In an interview on MSNBC, host Rachel Maddow jumped on Clapper’s claims saying, “That means that the immediate past director of national intelligence believes Donald Trump is only president because of a successful foreign intelligence operation to make him president.
Maddow failed to press Clapper on how he said just the opposite during sworn testimony before Congress just a few months ago. Back in February, he said that Russian interference had no “impact on the outcome of the 2016 election.”
At that time Senator Tom Cotton (Rep – AK) asked: “Director Clapper, you said to Senator McCain earlier ‘the intelligence community cannot gauge the impact’ on the election [of Russian activity]. Is that because that kind of electoral analysis is not a task that’s within the traditional responsibility and skill sets of the intelligence services?” Clapper agreed.
Hayden called Clapper out because one man prefers honor over position and the other does not. Clapper once admitted that neither he nor the intelligence services he oversaw have the tools to assess the impact of Russian activity on the 2016 election. Now he claims exactly what his own sworn testimony says he lacks the skills and training to do.
As a result, media types like Maddow can trumpet “the director of national intelligence during the Russian attack on the election” put Trump in office. Hayden, though he shares Clapper’s anti-Trump sentiment is appalled at his willingness to replace hard facts with biased opinion.
As part of his book tour, the former Director of National Intelligence struggled to explain on CNN the claims in his new book that Russians decided the 2016 presidential election. He allowed that the intelligence community had not made any judgments on the impact of Russian meddling in the election and had to admit his claims of knowledge was personal opinion without hard evidence to back it up.
“The intelligence community did not make any attempt to assess the impact on voter decisions or the outcome of the election. It has neither the authority, the capability, or the resources,” said Clapper. “But having some understanding, pretty good understanding, of what the Russians did … it just, to me, defies logic and credulity to suggest they didn’t have a huge impact and turn the election towards Donald Trump.”
The book shows Clapper “free to say about the 2016 elections what he did not say when he testified multiple times before Congress as director of national intelligence,” Rush Limbaugh noted the reason for the inconsistencies this past week on his radio broadcast: Clapper was under oath before Congress and would face criminal charges if caught lying, he could say whatever he wanted to in a book.
So which was the truth? What Clapper told Congress or during his recent interviews? His new book shows Clapper “free to say about the 2016 elections what he did not say when he testified multiple times before Congress.” Again, as Limbaugh noted Clapper is smart enough to know he can do all the damage he wants as long as he isn’t testifying before Congress.
And this where Hayden and Clapper part ways. Hayden is honest while his counterpart allows agents like Rachel Maddow to use his former position as “the director of national intelligence during the Russian attack on the election” to give special weight to his assessments.
Michael Hayden can give his educated opinion but he knows that is what they are – opinions. What Clapper once admitted that someone with his training is not qualified to gauge he now says that he has certain knowledge.
~ American Liberty Report
