In his first tweet of the day, Donald Trump said at 7:23am on Thursday that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had called him to effectively apologize and "denounce" the "false and fictitious" report containing numerous unverified allegations about the president-elect and Russia.
"Made up, phony facts.Too bad!" Trump tweeted.
James Clapper called me yesterday to denounce the false and fictitious report that was illegally circulated. Made up, phony facts.Too bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2017
Trump's victory lap followed a statement issued late on Wednesday night from Clapper, in which the head of the DNI said he had spoken to Trump to express his "profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press, and we both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security." In other words, the US intel agencies, having been slammed by Trump for being "overly politicized", blinked.
Clapper's full statement:
This evening, I had the opportunity to speak with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss recent media reports about our briefing last Friday. I expressed my profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press, and we both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security.
We also discussed the private security company document, which was widely circulated in recent months among the media, members of Congress and Congressional staff even before the IC became aware of it. I emphasized that this document is not a U.S. Intelligence Community product and that I do not believe the leaks came from within the IC. The IC has not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable, and we did not rely upon it in any way for our conclusions. However, part of our obligation is to ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security.
President-elect Trump again affirmed his appreciation for all the men and women serving in the Intelligence Community, and I assured him that the IC stands ready to serve his Administration and the American people.
The detente followed the decision by BuzzFeed to post the controversial document, which was compiled by a former British intelligence officer. It alleges Russia’s government possesses compromising financial and personal information about Trump. It also claims people close to Trump kept in touch with Moscow during the 2016 presidential race. In response, Trump slammed BuzzFeed as a "failing pail of garbage" in his first press conference of the year.