Saying much in a few words.
Coats ain’t the brightest bulb by a long shot but even he knows to steer clear of this mess.
Fucking partisan coward.
Non-denial denial.
That the generous spin. He is trying to passively assert executive privilege for the White House on their behalf to avoid saying anything about it.
That’s what it looks like. Playing it down the middle, not hurting Trump, not helping, not lying and not telling the truth. Certainly not denying the story, for what that’s worth. I suppose if he were compelled to testify he’d confirm what’s obvious.
Of course, as I understand it the privilege collapses in face of accusations of criminal wrongdoing. We’re not there yet but it’s a pretty weak thing to be trying.
I watched the hearing and his comments. If you get a chance to watch the C-Span replay, watch his eyes and the beads of sweat on his upper lip. Also, watch the scrum of people around him. Eyes darting back and forth, etc. They all seemed very nervous.
Coats had enough difficulty arriving at the point where he said he would not comment that it just felt like he wanted to either blurt our the truth or run from the room, or both. Just my observations. Take a look . . .
Agree, because if it didn’t happen, a simple “Neither the president nor anyone else asked me to intercede in the FBI investigation.” would have settled the matter unequivocally.
Translating Coats: “…it is not appropriate for me to comment publicly on any of that which we both know happened exactly as reported by the Washington Post.”.
Logic
Did he? No. Done deal.
Did he? Yes. Release the Kraken!
Did he? “It is not appropriate for me to comment publicly on any of that.” Release two Kraken!
just undid the kudos he earned from Josh this morning
The DNI chief over time will decreasingly appreciate Trump’s making of him a witness in Mueller’s obstruction of justice probe of the administration.
Why does this undo anything? The Post story seems to say he avoided participating in potential obstruction of justice. He could have tried to use this hearing to singlehandedly bring down Trump, but that’s not his job or goal, and this is not the appropriate forum. With Mueller on the case, if there’s something to find, non-obstruction by Coats and honesty with Mueller’s team is more than enough to keep justice moving.
Old white man Republican protects old white man Republican by lying and refusing to answer questions. Story at 11.
Heinrich is one of the senators for New Mexico. You have him as a senator from Minnesota. Klobuchar and Franken are the senators from Minnesota.
Expect nothing useful from Dan Coates.
Coates is a partisan republican who will not help with the investigation and will provide cover for the president.
"The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) followed up on the report and asked specifically about its revelation that other White House officials reached out to the intelligence community seeking that the investigation into former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn be dropped.
“I am not aware of that,” Coats said."
These leaks are looking dodgier and dodgier. My suspicion is that they’re a clever mix of innocuous fact, negative spin, and deliberate falsehood. Cannot wait until we find out who the leakers are and can get some proper answers as to their motives.
Did Trump break the law by asking you to help break the law? I can’t answer because it’s a private conversation.
Real stand up guy and solid argument.
(rolls eyes)
Possibly, but those requests may have been made to high level people below the Agency Director level. It wouldn’t surprise me if that level of staffer chose not to share the communications with Coates.
I am sure someone else pointed this out already, but apparently these contacts were in late March after Comey revealed the existence of the investigation on March 20. This lines up perfectly with the little Nunes solo visit to the White House freakout. This further corroborates that behind the scenes Trump was trying to discredit the Russia investigation.