Priebus blamed Democrats for the breach; senior aide Kellyanne Conway falsely characterized the testimony of an intelligence chief to Congress, saying James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, testified "that any aspiration to influence our elections failed".
His remarks came at a hearing at which three former directors of central intelligence testified that if Congress created a national intelligence director, the job must have clear authority, including control over the intelligence community's estimated $40 billion annual budget.
He snapped after hearing James Clapper, director of national intelligence, testify that the NSA did "not wittingly" collect information on millions of Americans.
(Porter J. Goss, the director of central intelligence, testified at the same time but did not address that point).
On March 12, James Clapper, director of national intelligence, testified at an open congressional hearing.
He was one of several intelligence chiefs testifying that day, and he was seated next to Michael Flynn, the Defense Intelligence Agency director at the time, who is now a subject of Mueller's probe.
Stanfield Turner, the Director of Central Intelligence, testified today that the C.I.A. had secretly supported human behavior control research at 80 institutions, including 44 colleges or universities as well as hospitals, prisons and pharmaceutical companies.
In January, Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, testified to Congress that while U.S. officials believe Iran is preserving its options, there is no evidence that they are making a concerted push to build a nuclear weapon.
In March, the director of national intelligence testified to Wyden that the NSA does "not wittingly" collect any type of data on millions of Americans, a statement proven untrue by the Guardian's June publication of a Fisa court order for ongoing, bulk surveillance of Americans' phone records.
The official, James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, testified before the House Intelligence Committee that the N.S.A. had kept senior officials in the National Security Council informed of surveillance it was conducting in foreign countries.
James Baker, the Justice Department's counsel for intelligence policy, testified that the Bush administration supported the proposed bill.
