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Clapper predicts ‘other shoes to drop’ in Mueller probe

FILE - In this Monday, May 8, 2017, file photo, former National Intelligence Director James Clapper testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism hearing: "Russian Interference in the 2016 United States Election." Clapper on Sunday, May 14, described a U.S. government "under assault" after President Donald Trump's controversial decision to fire FBI director James Comey, as lawmakers urged the president to select a new FBI director free of any political stigma. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper cited the financial dealings of the Trump Organization as another potential avenue for federal investigators. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File/AP Photo

By Cristiano Lima

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper predicted Sunday that there are “other shoes to drop” in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian election meddling, including potential ties to the Kremlin by those seeking to sway the election.

Clapper said Friday’s indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three foreign entities, which includes charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and aggravated identity theft, served to validate findings by the intelligence community on Russian election interference.

But the former intelligence chief, who served under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, predicted that Mueller’s team had yet to fully reveal its findings.

“I do think there are other shoes to drop here besides this indictment,” Clapper told Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Pressed on what additional findings Mueller’s team of federal prosecutors might unearth, Clapper suggested that Americans have yet to see the full extent of the involvement of the Russian government in efforts to undermine the U.S. electoral process.

“For example, not addressed here is potential involvement of the Russian government, which we certainly saw through intelligence channels that the Russians were — government was — was masterminding this,” Clapper said.

Clapper cited the financial dealings of the Trump Organization as another potential avenue for federal investigators.

“I think another thing that we haven’t seen much of is financial entanglements between the Trump Organization before the election and then during it.”

Clapper, who led U.S. intelligence efforts from 2010 to 2017, cast the Russian campaign to interfere with the 2016 elections as “unprecedented.”

“Never before have we seen an effort like this mounted by the Russians with the multidimensional nature of it and its aggressiveness and directness,” he said.