The Trump-appointed head of America’s intelligence agencies, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, has today publicly rebuked the view of his boss, who seemingly has once again accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s insistence that his country did not meddle in the 2016 US election.
Trump has run into pushback in the past for apparently giving Putin the benefit of the doubt regarding the interference charges, which has led many to speculate that even if Trump is not personally involved — if, as he says, there is “no collusion” — he clearly stands to lose more from admitting that Russia hacked our electoral process than he might gain from using the knowledge to prevent it from happening again in the future.
Coats was a Republican loyalist in Congress during his tenure in the House and then in the Senate as a representative of the Vice President’s home state of Indiana before he was appointed to a European ambassadorship by former President George W. Bush. None have ever questioned Coats’ dedication to the conservative cause, and in fact many might argue that Trump himself considered what a proud carrier of the GOP standard Coats has been before ever appointing him to such a high position in our national security apparatus.
Nevertheless, that loyalty apparently does not extend to carrying water for the Trump administration’s claims that no such interference took place. In a statement, Coats declared unequivocally that our intelligence agencies had made their conclusions about Russian meddling conclusively:
The role of the Intelligence Community is to provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the President and policymakers. We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.”
For his part, Trump’s agreement with Putin mentioned Coats in nearly the same breath. During his joint press appearance with Putin, Trump said:
My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me, some others, they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
That was a slap in the face to not just Coats, but to the rest of the intelligence officials who have been working on the investigation. Many were calling for Coats to resign over today’s affront from the President, while others insisted that Coats is more important in the position he currently holds, if for no other reason than as a stalwart against allowing the President’s opinion or wishes to become a sort of subjective truth in the eyes of his supporters.
