but keep in mind, i spoke to a number of sources for the story. it included sources directly involved in this decision-making and the discussions around this decision. >> jim sciutto, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> i want to talk more about cnn's exclusive reporting now. let's bring in james clapper, the former director of national intelligence. director, thank you so much. i've got to get your reaction to jim sciutto's reporting that the united states extracting a highly placed covert source from inside the russian government, in part because of concerns the president could have exposed the asset. that's really shocking. >> well, jim, first as an intel guy, i can't sit here with you and confirm or deny anything that jim just said. and the problem here, of course, is not just one person but apparently a group of people felt strongly enough about their concerns about president trump's keeping secrets that they thought that the public needed to know about it. now, this is another classic