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Director comey had said, i expect to see them back in 2018 and especially in 2020. those are his words. do you agree with that? >> absolutely. >> that's why an independent commission would allow us to come up with some ideas in how to stop this from happening again. whether it's how the media handle these things, how intelligence agencies when they find out handle these things. we cannot allow foreign countries to influence our democracy. do you agree, collector clapper? >> i certainly do. i understand how critical leaks are and unmasking and all of these ancillary issues. to me the transcende...

>> had you not been fired, would you have recommended to the white house counsel that they begin further investigations into the national security adviser or that they restrict his access to sensitive and classified information? >> it's a bit of a hypothetical. had i remained at the department of justice and if i was under the impression that nothing was done, yes, i would have raised it with the white house. >> thank you. >> mrs. yates, dr. clapper, thank you for your years of service to the american people. mrs. yates, i want to start with you. you declined support to defend the president's ...

Arrange for me to talk on background with reporters about a particular issue to educate them about that, no. i certainly never provided classified information. that will be the only kind of background information. >> i might have done this same thing. but certainly -- doesn't -- doesn't include sharing classified information. >> down anybody else that has ever leaked classified or unclassified information to the press? >> no. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i went over. i apologize. >> okay. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general clapper, mrs. yates. good to see you. mrs. yates, i remember so well yo...

>> well, i guess it could be -- you could rationalize that that helps the russians by obviskating who was responsible. >> thank you. >> i want to thank you and the ranking member for this hearing and these hearings. i want to thank general clapper and attorney general yates for appearing today. the intelligence community has concluded, all 17 of them, that russia interfered with this election. we all know that is right.

Blackmail? >> any time the russians have compromising information on you, then you're certainly vulnerable to blackmail. >> let me ask general clapper this. you looked at the other case. the sergeant government officials, if that had hidden financial information, things that normally disclose, they could see your official position. is that an area where they could be blackmailed? if it's discovered. >> yes, it is. of course. >> and is it your experience that the russians search for that kind of thing? >> absolutely. >> january the intelligence community, the fbi, the cia concluded high confide...