James Clapper

this illustrates how political really this list is.

the issue is his right to speak, and by extension, other's right to speak.

There needs to be leadership across our country about the threat posed by the Russians in their continued efforts to meddle in our political processes.

Well, actually, you know, I don't know. But I just found that very interesting that Putin, who I think emerged as the alpha dog after the Helsinki press conference.

I think individual agencies and departments, notably DHS, the Intelligence Community, FBI, et cetera are doing what they can within their scope of responsibilities to prepare for the midterm elections.

I think this is a real abuse of the clearance system, just to use it to attack political opponents or people that have been critical of the president, and, you know, is that now going to become a criterion for obtaining a clearance…

Well, or what else might the president decide we're not entitled to. Retired pay? Medical benefits? Where does this stop, just as a way of, again, retaliating against political opponents?

The Russian meddling is a profound threat to this country. And it is really disturbing when the commander-in-chief won't consistently recognize it.

Well, to me, it seems that this is something of a reward for bad behavior. I wasn't really wild about having the first summit just for that reason. I mean, what has Putin or Russia done lately that would merit a summit with the president…

Had there been preparation for this, you know, that might not have happened.

Yes, that's certainly the conventional manner in which these things are done where, first, the national security team would be a part of the decision-making process to have a summit and, you know, work out the details for the agenda and…

Yes, well, this is -- yes, as we've come to know the President, he is not a stalwart for a consistency or coherence. So it's very hard to explain that.

It is not a witch-hunt. It is a serious, serious investigation, the catalyst for which was the intelligence community assessment that we did in the last administration.

The President is failing his responsibility to educate the public and particularly those who vote about the threat that the Russians are posing and how they are undermining our very system.

Only the President can infuse the sense of urgency that needs to prevail here, which we really don't have.

I think the press ought to be responsive to it. Having said all that, there are lots and lots of issues that need to be resolved and I don't think the President is getting the kind of political lift that he might have anticipated from this…

The ban is so obviously, palpably, indeed explicitly anti-Muslim in nature that it has--understandably--offended Muslim-American communities.

Trump's travel ban fails to respond to threats to our country and actually undermines our security.

I think it's a part of the larger narrative here. This gets back to, you know, the deep state business and there's a deep state that is bent on undermining him or turning -- even turning him out of office.

No, I -- 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 and influence…

No, in fact, just the opposite. I was trying to delineate, I think I said it, a spy, particularly in this context, is a term that I don't like and it really doesn't apply.

I wish the President were as aggressive about doing something about the Russians undermining us as he is about this informant.

In general, it's a very important source for the FBI. The FBI has lots of informants who give them very valuable information.

the objective here was actually to protect the campaign by determining whether the Russians were infiltrating it and attempting to exert influence.

the intelligence community needs to keep shoveling that intelligence coal down there in the engine room.