Former National Intelligence director James Clapper on Trump potentially being a Russian 'asset': 'Explosive but not surprising'

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the New York Times' reporting that the FBI investigated whether Donald Trump was a Russian "asset" is "explosive" -- but that it didn't surprise him.

CNN's Anderson Cooper noted that earlier on Monday, the president took to the White House lawn to deny that he's a Russian plant while taking aim at the "scoundrels" at the FBI who investigated him.

"It is amazing, it's explosive, but it's not really surprising," Clapper said.

"That's part of what's overtaken us as a country, where they're just this steady stream of dramatic revelations," the former DNI said. "And, you know, now it's almost -- you know, we've become somewhat jaded to it. And that is -- that's a sad commentary in and of itself."

Clapper noted that in the more than 50 years he'd been working in intelligence, he couldn't recall anything "comparable" involving an American president.

"I was in the intelligence community during Watergate," Clapper said. "But nothing that happened then that approaches this. But yet we've sort of gotten jaded to it"

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