Victor Davis Hanson
James Clapper has admitted to lying to Congress about the illegal activities of the National Security Agency under his direction.
Clapper used his titles and tenures to revolve in and out of lucrative billets in private security agencies prior to and following his federal position—raising the ire of watchdogs that alleged he used his position to inordinately profit in the private sector and thus suffered from a variety of conflicts of interest.
Clapper, while under congressional oath, denied that the NSA had spied on domestic users of Verizon wire communication devices. When caught in the perjury, he fobbed it off with the embarrassing excuse, “I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful manner by saying no.” Do we want public servants defining lying as “least untruthful”?
In other words, Clapper knew he was lying but sought to massage the lie the best he could. Several senators on both sides of the aisle lobbied to have the Obama Justice Department charge Clapper with criminal perjury.
During the Trump years, now private citizen Clapper, with his national security clearance intact, rotated to a paid consultantship with CNN. Once there on the air, he spread the Steele dossier lies, and assessed the then president of the United States, Donald Trump, as being a Russian “asset.” (Clapper also claimed that Russians in general were genetically [“in their genes”] anti-democratic.)
The smearing of Trump by Clapper, a former Air Force general, clearly violated Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The slander should have once again subjected Clapper to government penalties. But also once more, he proved immune from any consequence and kept up his calumny.
Did those violations moderate the unbound Clapper?
Hardly.
It only emboldened him. On the eve of the 2020 election, Antony Blinken and Mike Morrel dreamed up the rounding up of “51 intelligence authorities” to lie that Hunter Biden’s incriminating laptop, then in possession of the FBI and deemed authentic, had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Clapper was one of the first and most prominent intelligence authorities to sign on to this smear, in what can only be legitimately called illegitimate intelligence interference. At least one postelection poll found the false charge had influenced enough voters to lose Trump the 2020 election.
I could go on.
But are we really to take seriously the objections to the Gabbard nomination by the intelligence community and their leftwing enablers, who helped appoint, enable, and excuse a James Clapper when he occupied the same position now in question?
Discussion (5)
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Two things come to mind as I read this article. First, I wonder if he (Clapper) has a better definition of what "is" is? And, second, when are we going to hold our "public" servants accountable. It's not that everyone needs to be charged and tried in court, but at least they could resign (in professional disgrace) on their own, be asked/forced to resign, or they could and should be outright fired if the other options are ignored. These actions should be the norm, and not the exception. Most of us, in the lower ranks, would be treated in a very different maner than these political elites. As they say "with great authority, comes great responsibility", so I only ask that our political and government leaders hold themselves personally and professionally accountable. No one is irreplaceable, get over yourselves and get out of the way!
Well said. It will most assuredly take an iron hand to reign in the intelligence agency elite, and I pray Tulsi possesses one. They are so entrenched as to include even Speaker Johnson, who recently signed off on blanket warrantless citizen spying, that she likely faces the biggest challenge of all nominees.
VDH, well argued that the left has nothing other than hypocrisy with which to argue. Sad that any citizen would believe them or worse, vote for them. My simple view.
Excellent response.
Thanks Victor for juxtaposing clapper’s disgusting actions with the normal behavior of most Homo sapiens. There is not enough odor remover on the planet to quench the stink which surrounds clapper.