Top intel officials say they’ve NEVER been pressured to interfere with Russia investigation…

Both Mike Rogers and Dan Coats affirm that they’ve never been pressured by Trump or anyone else to interfere with the Russia investigation.

Here are their respective statements:

Here’s more…

POLITICO – Two of the nation’s top intelligence officials said Wednesday they did not feel pressure to interfere with the FBI’s ongoing Russia investigation amid reports that President Donald Trump had asked them to push back against the probe.

“In the three-plus years that I have been director of the National Security Agency, I have never been directed to do anything I believe to be illegal, immoral, unethical or inappropriate and to the best of my recollection during that same period of service I do not recall ever feeling pressured to do so,” NSA Director Mike Rogers told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Dan Coats, who oversees the nation’s intelligence apparatus, echoed those comments. “I have never felt pressured to interfere or intervene in shaping intelligence in any way,” he said.

But both men danced around questions of whether they had ever been asked by Trump to intrude or downplay the matter to the press, as has been reported.

“I don’t believe it’s appropriate for me to address that in a public session,” Coats said.

Rogers also refused to comment. “I’m not going to discuss the specifics of discussions with the president of the United States,” he said.

As Politico points out, neither would confirm or deny whether or not Trump spoke to them about interfering in the Russia election – just as I speculated yesterday they would do, which makes it look like a non-answer and people will just assume they are hiding something now and that Trump did ask them about it.

This is how the game is played.

On the other hand, Deputy AG Rothstein gave a very direct answer to Rubio asking if any of them were aware of anyone from the White House asking about interfering in any investigation:

“Absolutely No”, he said. The others, despite confusion about the question, all chimed in with ‘no’ as well.


Comment Policy: Please read our comment policy before making a comment. In short, please be respectful of others and do not engage in personal attacks. Otherwise we will revoke your comment privileges.