Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Wednesday drew a stunning conclusion after he read former Trump "fixer" Michael Cohen's prepared testimony.
Speaking with CNN's Alisyn Camerota, Clapper said that Cohen's revelations about what Trump allegedly knew about Russia's efforts to help him throughout the 2016 campaign put his initial denials that Russia worked to get him elected in a whole new light.
"This devastating, stunning testimony that Michael Cohen is going to render... helps to explain the president's reaction to our our briefing that we gave to President-elect Trump on the 6th of January 2017," he said. "And his refusal to accept what we were telling him about the Russian meddling... He just refused to get his head around anything that would cast doubt on... the legitimacy of his election."
Clapper now suspects, however, that Trump understood that Russia had worked to help him win.
"Now we have this evidence that he knew all along what was going on," Clapper said.
Clapper then speculated that there may have been coordination on messaging when it came to attacks on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, such as the assertions made by both Russian operatives and Trump campaign officials that she was seriously ill.
"There's striking parallels and similarities thematically," Clapper said. "This, to me, is the pieces falling into place."
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