Judge Napolitano's Source: I Didn't Say Obama Behind Trump Surveillance

Former intelligence officer Larry Johnson, claiming Sunday to be one of Judge Andrew Napolitano's sources in a controversial report that former President Barack Obama used British intelligence to spy on then-candidate Donald Trump, said his information was obtained indirectly and misrepresented – although it did have some credence as an "information operation" against Trump.

"I think judge should have had a different approach to it," Johnson told CNN's "Reliable Sources."

"The substance of what he's saying, he didn't get it right, accurate either. I'm not saying the British GCHQ [Government Communications Headquarters] was wiretapping Trump Tower. Let's make a simple point."

Johnson told host Brian Stelter he was "not knowingly" Judge Napolitano's source through an intelligence community discussion group – because he had not spoken to the judge before Saturday. Napolitano said a British spy agency surveilled President Trump to eliminate any trail leading back to President Barack Obama's administration.

"I had known about the fact that the British, through GCHQ, were passing information back," Johnson clarified. "This was not done at the direction of Barack Obama. Let's be clear about that.

"It was being done with the full knowledge of people like John Brennan and Jim Clapper. I had been told this about two different people that I know within the intelligence community."

Johnson's concern – which he expressed in the intelligence community forum and was subsequently shared with Judge Napolitano – was political in nature and "an information operation that's been directed against President Trump and people like John Brennan."

"[The intelligence community was] very concerned about this because they saw it has an unfair meddling in politics, but it was a way to get around the issue of American intelligence agencies not collecting," Johnson told Stelter.

Johnson admitted his information was also second-, third-, or fourth-hand through sources, too.

"I'm hearing it from people who are in a position to know, that's correct," Johnson told Stelter. "I posted that on the discussion board, and one of the individuals there shared that with the judge.

"I don't know what his other sources are. All I know is what I know. I had known about this before it came out."

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