Lawmakers, national security experts, and political pundits were divided over whether Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats should resign after President Trump broke his own U.S. intelligence community when he characterized Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials that Kremlin-linked operatives interfered in the 2016 election as “extremely strong and powerful.”
Former DNI James Clapper, Coats’ immediate predecessor, said during an interview with CNN on Tuesday he would have stepped down in “a heartbeat, particularly after being publicly thrown under the bus, internationally thrown under the bus by the president.”
“Well, there were times when I considered that when I was serving as DNI. And what you have to balance is, am I doing more good by leaving and re-enforcing a principle? Or do I do more harm if I leave?” Clapper recalled. “And so I’m sure that Dan Coats — I would be very surprised if he is not going through that calculus himself right now.”
[New: Trump says he misspoke, accepts US intelligence on Russian meddling]
“If it were me … I would resign in a heartbeat,” says James Clapper, Former Director of National Intelligence when asked if current Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats should resign following the Trump-Putin summit https://t.co/ij0FnQMwrd pic.twitter.com/EWnmFPnpEW
— New Day (@NewDay) July 17, 2018
But Clapper said it was a “tough,” “personal” decision for Coats, a sentiment also expressed by ex-CIA Director Michael Hayden in an interview with Mediaite published Tuesday.
More broadly, former CIA Directors Michael Morell and John Brennan recommended resignations from U.S. intelligence officials in the wake of Trump’s controversial press conference with Putin on Monday at the conclusion of their talks in Helsinki.
“I do think that senior officials in the intelligence community need to ask themselves whether they can continue to serve this president and represent the men and women in the intelligence community in a way that is positive,” Morell told CBS News. “I would advise them to considering stepping down, yes.”
Former acting & deputy CIA director @MichaelJMorell: I do think that senior officials in the intelligence community need to ask themselves whether they can continue to serve this president and represent the men and women in the intelligence community in a way that is positive. pic.twitter.com/rTuBtIWbqz
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) July 17, 2018
Brennan agreed during a NBC interview, adding that “people are going to decide to leave the Republican Party.”
“I’m sure Ronald Reagan listening to what Mr. Trump was saying could not believe it, and is rolling over right now, unfortunately, in his grave,” he said.
“Do you think there should be resignations? People who work for the president right now?” @savannahguthrie asks @JohnBrennan pic.twitter.com/i36XCwGrGZ
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) July 17, 2018
While intelligence figures were preoccupied with the moral argument for stepping aside, lawmakers and commentators worried about the political fallout.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told CNN she would prefer Coats to stay because the country needed “very solid people in those positions right now.”
“While the president is there, I want to have people in place that know what they are doing and are willing to speak the truth,” Klobuchar said.
“I don’t think that Dan Coats should resign,” says Sen. Amy Klobuchar: “I want to have some very solid people in those positions right now…who are willing to speak the truth” https://t.co/GKDhxfSpyg https://t.co/aHZ0xCwDuh
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) July 17, 2018
“I understand you want Dan Coats to be the Elliot Richardson who stands up for moral authority and resigns in protest over the actions of the president, but who replaces him?” Evan Siegfried, a Republican strategist, told MSNBC, referring to the U.S. attorney general who stepped down rather than carry out former President Richard Nixon’s order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the 1973 Saturday Night Massacre.
“And it could be a Trump loyalist, who has the intellectual capacity of a potato,” Siegfried continued.
MSNBC is worried that I might replace Dan Coats as the Director of National Intelligence pic.twitter.com/VbkcZYVz6P
— Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) July 17, 2018
Coats distanced himself from Trump on Monday following the president’s admission that he still doubts whether Russia tried to influence the 2016 election.
“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,” Coats wrote in a statement.
Trump was asked by reporters on Monday whether he believed the U.S. intelligence community’s findings regarding Kremlin efforts to undermine American political processes or Putin’s denial, and appeared to side with the Russian president in his response.
“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said.
However, Trump reversed course on Tuesday, saying he accepts the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies on Russian interference, adding that he misspoke the previous day.
