National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said Thursday he had no clue what happened in the one-on-one meeting in Helsinki between President Trump and…
National Intelligence Director Dan Coats said Thursday he had no clue what happened in the one-on-one meeting in Helsinki between President Trump and Vladimir Putin — and was stunned to learn that the president had invited the Russian strongman to DC this fall.
“Say that again?” Coats said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado when told of a tweet from administration spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders announcing the visit.
“OK. That’s going to be special,” he added, according to the Washington Examiner.
Asked if he knew what Trump and Putin had discussed Monday, the president’s intel chief admitted he was in the dark.
“Well, you’re right, I don’t know what happened at that meeting,” Coats said.
“I think as time goes by and the president has already mentioned some things that happened in that meeting, I think we will learn more. But that is the president’s prerogative.”
Trump has called the summit “a great success,” but he has been vague about what he discussed with Putin.
Terrorism, Israel, nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, the Middle East and North Korea were among the issues they talked about, Trump said in a tweet on Thursday — without offering details.
Putin agreed the summit was a success and said on Thursday it “led to some useful agreements,” without providing details.
With Reuters
