Donald Trump’s mysterious meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin are still causing major concerns — even from his own team.
Earlier today, the Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats made a bombshell statement while he was at White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ press briefing. Accompanied by FBI Director Chris Wray, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, National Security director John Bolton, and several other top intelligence community members, Coats admitted that he had never been briefed about what went on between Trump and Putin during their private meeting in Helsinki.
During the press briefing, the intelligence community made statements about what the administration was doing to prevent election meddling from Russia in the future. Reuters’ reporter Jeff Mason pointed out that there had been an obvious “disconnect” between Coats and the White House since Trump’s press conference with Putin, referencing Trump’s refusal to stand up to Russia on meddling. When Coats was asked for an answer, he said:
I’m not in a position to either understand fully or talk about what happened in Helsinki.”
It was a super awkward moment and Coats then quickly deferred to Bolton, who tried to defend the president and insist that Putin and Trump had discussed the election interference — which only encouraged more questions from the press about why Trump wouldn’t bring it up at the joint press conference. More importantly, reporters wanted to know how Trump’s team could be certain that the president was following their advice, considering his horrific track record.
Having Coats admit that he has no idea what’s going on and knows almost nothing about what Trump was talking to Putin about is highly concerning. We already know that Trump cannot be trusted, and it seems that his team accepts his dishonesty. You can watch this surprising moment below:
Featured image via screen capture
