Senator ripped for not understanding the meaning of 'unclassified'
The Senate hearing Monday was supposed to focus on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, but many Republican senators didn't feel like talking about that.
Instead, they often focussed on why information about potential Russian interference kept leaking to news outlets.
Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy wanted to know, for example, whether former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper -- who testified alongside former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates -- had ever leaked information to the press.
Clapper said he hasn't knowingly done so, then Kennedy tried to clarify.
"Classified or unclassified?" Kennedy asked.
"Well uh, unclassified is not -- is not leaking," Clapper said.
The room, as you can hear in the video, burst into laughter, as did the twittersphere.
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Kennedy has a law degree from the University of Virginia, but, hey, we all can't be prepared for work 100 percent of the time.
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Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
