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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s ambiguous relationship with National Intelligence Director Dan Coats played out on a global stage Monday when Trump appeared to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin's denial of interfering in the 2016 U.S. elections over what Coats and others have said are undisputed facts.
That prompted some to say Coats should resign to protect his honor and the honor of the intelligence community.
Instead, Coats reiterated the intelligence community’s view that Russia meddled in the election — and indicated he isn’t going anywhere.
“We will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security,” Coats, a former senator from Indiana, said in a statement.
Then Trump tweeted that while he has “GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people,” he wants to “get along” with Russia instead of focusing on the past.
That tweet came before the "CBS Evening News" broadcast an interview with Trump in which he cast doubt on Coats’ recent warning that the nation is susceptible to a large-scale cybersecurity attack.
“I don’t know if I agree with that. I’d have to look,” Trump told CBS anchor Jeff Glor, according to an excerpt released in advance. “But I have a lot of respect for Dan.”
Intel chief disagrees:Coats counters Trump: 'We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling'
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During Coats’ confirmation hearing for the position last year, he assured senators that he was not too much of a “nice guy” for the job and would be able stand up to pressure, including from the president.
In a recently published book on vice presidents, author Kate Andersen Brower said Coats was reluctant to take the job — and only agreed because Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly asked him too.
“Both these men see themselves as bulwarks against chaos,” Brower wrote.
Mike Murphy, a GOP consultant and Trump critic now at the Harvard Belfer Center, said he gave friends involved in national security a pass for joining the Trump administration.
But Trump crossed a line with his comments Monday, Murphy said, by "throwing the entire intelligence community under the bus."
"My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me, some others, they said they think it's Russia," Trump said as he stood next to Putin at a joint news conference between the two leaders following their talks in Helsinki. "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."
Michael McFaul, the U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, tweeted that Trump was siding with Putin over Coats.
"How humiliating for Coats — broadcast to the world," McFaul tweeted.
Murphy said Coats should resign both to stand up for the reputation of the intelligence community and to protect his own reputation.
“I’m not sure it will change anything in Trump’s behavior,” Murphy said. ‘But I think it would be symbolically a very important act of protest and would let Sen. Coats leave government with his honor intact.”
Larry Pfeiffer, director of the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security, said Coats should resign "in protest and disgust."
"History shows well-timed and principled resignations help illuminate and focus on problems. As would a confirmation hearing for a successor," Pfeiffer said.
But former Sen. Richard Lugar said Coats should "just keep his head down and do his duty" because his experience is too valuable to lose.
"I think it’s important for the country that he stay where he is," Lugar said. "Obviously he would be certainly upset by listening to that press conference and what the president had to say today."
In 2014, Coats was banned from Russia for his efforts as a senator to punish the country because of Moscow’s move to annex the Crimea region of Ukraine.
Coats on Friday painted a stark picture of cyber security threats to the nation, comparing the warning signs to those that flashed red before 9/11 — and taking a much tougher stance towards Russia than Trump has.
“The system is blinking,” Coats said in remarks at the Hudson Institute. “I believe we’re at a critical point.”
Despite Kremlin denials, Coats said, people affiliated with the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency continue to create social media accounts to masquerade as Americans and sow division. Russian government actors have also targeted businesses, state and local governments, critical infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, he said.
“Russia has been the most aggressive foreign actor, no question,” Coats said. “They continue their efforts to undermine our democracy.”
Coats’ comments came hours after the Justice Department indicted a dozen Russian military intelligence officers for attempting to undermine the 2016 election in part by hacking into the Democratic National Committee.
Outrage on Capitol Hill:Republicans blast Trump meeting with Putin as 'shameful' and 'sign of weakness'
Trump’s unwillingness to accept the assessment of Russian interference was blasted by Democrats – including South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, who said Trump should resign.
While Capitol Hill Republicans didn’t go that far, they did criticize Trump’s comments.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called the press conference “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”
Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the head of the Foreign Relations Committee, expressed disbelief that Trump did not back up U.S. intelligence agencies.
“When he had the opportunity to defend our intelligence agencies, who work for him, I was very disappointed and saddened with the equivalency he gave between them and what Putin was saying," Corker said.
Indiana Sen. Todd Young, who succeeded Coats and serves on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the nation needs to “deal with Moscow from a position of strength and unity.”
Coats said in his statement that 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," Coats said.
About 90 minutes after Coats' statement, Trump tweeted: "As I said today and many times before, 'I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.' However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along! #HELSINKI2018"
Lugar, a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Trump’s unwillingness to confront Putin an “extraordinary contrast” with how Trump threw brick bats at British Prime Minister Theresa May and other members of the NATO alliance days earlier.
Lugar said the major factor in Trump’s mind at his appearance with Putin appeared to be insecurity over whether his 2016 victory has been accepted.
“Essentially he wanted once again to depreciate all the investigations and controversies surrounding the last election,” Lugar said. “I think he decided that was the important objective, his own preservation of his presidency and his leadership.”
Contact Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @mgroppe.
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