Taylor and Mensch now report, based on separate sources, a sealed indictment against DT.

[Honeycombe8]

131. The BBC report doesn't mention Mensch or use the same source(s). It doesn't mention

the Guardian or McClatchy. It's different and separate.

No, they did not say they couldn't respond because their answer would be classified. Clapper said he just couldn't verify it. I assumed that to mean because it's a report by a foreign country using unnamed sources. They couldn't possibly verify it.

They were asked if they could verify the story. They weren't asked if they had been able to verify independently the facts stated in the story. Those are two different things, if you catch the difference. At least that's how I recall it.

Separately, Comey stated several times at the hearings that his refusal to answer because that's a classified subject should not be interpreted to mean yay or nay, either way. It merely means he won't answer questions that pertain to an area of classified information; sometimes by stating NO, that alone reveals something classified. If, for instance, he says no warrants were issued for such and such, that mere statement reveals classified information.