WASHINGTON – Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats had to tell President Donald Trump in 2017 that it was not his job to get involved…
WASHINGTON – Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats had to tell President Donald Trump in 2017 that it was not his job to get involved in FBI investigations.
When Mike Pompeo was Trump’s first CIA director, Trump complained to him multiple times that no one would publicly defend him in the Russia investigation.
And Adm. Michael Rogers, who headed the National Security Agency in 2017, was so concerned about Trump’s request to refute news stories linking him to Russia that he documented the exchange. Rogers’ deputy director described Trump’s call as the most unusual thing he’d experienced in 40 years of government service.
Those details from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report offer a behind-the-scenes look at Trump’s often fraught relationship with the leaders of the intelligence community. Trump took office voicing skepticism about the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered to help him win the White House.
After FBI Director James Comey publicly confirmed March 20,2017 that his agency was investigating possible coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign, Trump leaned on other intelligence community leaders for help.
Trump fired Comey less than two months later, telling the Russia foreign minister the next day that he “faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off…. I’m not under investigation.”
Rogers retired last year. Pompeo is now Trump’s secretary of state. Coats is still advising Trump, but he’s had several public conflicts with the president that have led to speculation about whether he will remain in the job.
Coats didn’t go as far as some of his aides did in describing to Mueller’s team his interactions with Trump about the Russia investigation.
