Again, that implies that he had intent to mislead. It's easy to prove that he was wrong - it's a lot harder to prove intent. Wyden decided to ask that question to a senior intelligence official who was not part of NSA (Clapper is Director of National Intelligence - responsible primarily for collaboration between the intelligence agencies) and he asked it out of the blue during a hearing that mostly focused on tensions in the Middle East. It's within the realm of possibility that Clapper actually misinterpreted his question, or just plain did not consider a program that we later found only had 23 people working on it (out of around a hundred thousand or so people across all of the intelligence agencies). Wyden clearly knew the answer to his question and wanted the public to know it. Did Wyden lie to his constituents through omission?
>"and he asked it out of the blue during a hearing that mostly focused on tensions in the Middle East"
Are we talking about the same question? Your claim directly contradicts Wyden's statement on the matter.
Do you believe that Wyden's statement is true? And if not, what evidence do you have, and do you believe Wyden is a liar because he intended to mislead people by saying the following? Or did you accidentally make a "too cute by half" factual error or "least untruthful statement" when you claimed he "asked it out of the blue", and it was never your intent to mislead?
>"So that he would be prepared to answer, I sent the question to Director Clapper’s office a day in advance."
Yes, I would consider it out of the blue. Sen Wyden posed follow-up question to something that Gen Alexander said 8 months earlier, and he waited until the day before to pose it instead to DNI Clapper at a committee hearing that 1) was focused on developments in overseas national security threats over the past year and 2) Gen Alexander wasn't going to be present for. I don't doubt for a second that Clapper didn't see it - you don't wait until the last moment to submit a question unless you're trying to pull a political stunt. If he sent it a week or two prior, I could understand some outrage.
I have no idea what was going through Clapper's head at the time - maybe he did consider the 215 program or maybe he didn't. What he said was factually wrong and he tried to correct it but couldn't do so publicly.
This isn't trying to get the truth out - this is politics. Wyden is an elected representative - he has a duty to act in the best interests of his constituents. He was fully briefed on the program. If he felt that the information should have been public, he should have made it public - as a sitting member of the Senate he was authorized to do so. James Clapper was not. Wyden didn't correct Clapper on the spot. He didn't ask for more details. He didn't ask something like 'can you address any domestic collection programs that would fall under the Section 215 authorities?' He didn't do a damn thing publicly until the program was leaked months later, then used it as an opportunity to advance his own political career. Don't act like Clapper is some sort villain but Wyden is a hero.
