Clapper on ‘Spygate’: I never have liked the term ‘spy’

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper early Tuesday said during a discussion on an informant who reportedly met with three Trump campaign aides that he never liked the term “spy,” adding that “the informant is the most benign form of intelligence collection.” 

Clapper, who serves as a CNN contributor, appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to promote his new book, “Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence,” which was released last week.

{mosads}Co-host Willie Geist asked Clapper to draw a distinction between a spy and an informant as it pertained to Stefan Halper, who reportedly met with Trump advisers George Papadopoulos, Sam Clovis and Carter Page during the 2016 campaign.

“For me, if you’re going to use the term ‘spy,’ which I never have liked, but let’s assume it’s a valid term, to me that suggests using intelligence tradecraft, employing an operative who has been formally trained in clandestine collection, someone who’s masking their identity or someone who is recruiting and this informant was none of that,” said Clapper. “So to me the informant is the most benign form of intelligence collection that you can do.”

“And moreover, the important point here is what was the objective? The objective is what were the Russians attempting to do, if anything, to infiltrate and influence a political campaign? That was the objective, not to spy on the campaign, per se,” he added.

President Trump said earlier this month that Halper’s contact with campaign officials, which he labeled “spygate,” was “bigger than Watergate” and demanded that his Department of Justice open a probe into whether the FBI surveilled his campaign, a demand the Justice Department responded to by requesting its inspector general investigate.

I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2018

“If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement on May 21.