"There was message distortion," Clapper told the Washington Post in an article published Monday. "All we were doing was raising a yellow flag that this could be Russian disinformation. Politico deliberately distorted what we said. It was clear in paragraph five," he continued.
Cruz did not buy Clapper's explanation.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism on Capitol Hill May 8, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
"What Clapper saying now is obviously spin and it's spin to try to cover his own rear end because he is now subject to scrutiny from the House majority," Cruz said.
"And okay, so the headline, here's the headline Politico ran about Clapper's letter. Quote, ‘Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo dozens of former intel officials say.’ So that was the story Politico wrote because they leaked the letter to Politico, and then lots of other media outlets, CNN and others covered the Politico story," Cruz recalled.
"Now, Clapper at the time, did he issue a clarification? ‘This story is false.’ No. Did he go on TV and say, 'This is not true? I didn't say it was Russian disinformation?' No," he continued.
"The reason they wrote the letter, the reason they leaked the letter is they intended Politico to write exactly what they wrote. They intended the useful idiots in the press, the corrupt corporate media, to go forth with their lie," Cruz asserted.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, hit former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper for claiming Politico 'deliberately distorted' the intel officials' letter on Hunter Biden's laptop being Russian disinfo. (Foxnews)
"And we now know it was a lie. That it wasn't Russian disinformation, the laptop was true and real," he said. "But James Clapper wanted that story written two weeks before the election because he didn't want anyone to focus on what was in the Hunter Biden laptop."
The Politico article in question was written by Natasha Bertrand, who now works for CNN as a White House reporter. Clapper is a paid contributor for CNN as well. The network has not responded to Clapper's new allegations.
CHATGPT ACCUSED OF LIBERAL BIAS AFTER REFUSING TO WRITE HUNTER BIDEN NEW YORK POST COVERAGE
The New York Post revealed that ChatGPT gave very different answers on Hunter Biden when asked to write in the style of their paper versus CNN. (Fox News )
In addition to implying that the New York Post's reporting, which has since been confirmed by the New York Times and many other news outlets, was Russian disinformation, Clapper also endorsed Biden for President in 2020.