Key moments from intel chiefs’ testimony on Trump and Russia
Top intelligence and law enforcement officials testified Wednesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, a hearing that comes amid growing reports that President Donald Trump tried to interfere with the FBI’s probe into whether his campaign colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 election.
Here are highlights from the hearing with Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers, Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein:
Coats “never felt pressure” to intervene in the Russia probe. The intelligence chief responded to a report in the Washington Post, which wrote Tuesday that Coats had told associates in March that the president asked him if he could intercede with then-FBI Director James Comey to encourage him to ease up on the FBI’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. “My response to that was in my time of service, which is in interacting with the president of the United States or anybody in his administration, I have never been pressured, I have never felt pressure to intervene or interfere in any way with shaping intelligence in a political way or in relationship to an ongoing investigation,” Coats said, recounting his reaction to a request for comment from the Post.
Coats suggested he is open to discussing private conversations he may have had with the president but not in a public setting. “I don’t believe that it’s appropriate for me to address that in a public session,” he said.
Rogers says he’s never been directed to do anything “illegal” or “immoral.” The NSA chief declined to “talk about theoreticals” or address private conversations he may have had with the president. “But I will make the following comment,” he said. “In the three-plus years that I have been the director of the National Security Agency, to the best of my recollection, I have never been directed to do anything I believed 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.”
But Coats and Rogers refuse to answer whether Trump asked them to intervene. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sharply questioned the intelligence chiefs and told them, “I actually think if what is being said to the media is untrue, then it is unfair to the president of the United States, and if it is true, then it is something the American people deserve to know and we as an oversight committee need to know in order to conduct our job.” Rubio then pressed Coats and Rogers on whether Trump had ever asked them to intervene in the FBI investigation. The two men refused to answer. “I just hate to keep repeating this,” Coats said. “I am willing to come before the committee and tell you what I know and what I don’t know. What I’m not willing to do is share what I think is confidential information.”
Rogers and Coats asked the White House about invoking executive privilege. “The answer I gave today reflects my answer — no one else’s,” Rogers said. “My answer is the exact same,” Coats added. Rogers and Coats told the committee they asked the White House about invoking executive privilege, but they maintained that their testimony reflects their own answers — not the White House’s or anyone else’s. Rosenstein and McCabe said they had not had conversations with the White House about executive privilege.
“I don’t understand why you’re not answering our questions,” an exasperated Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) snapped during a back-and-forth with Rogers, who said he feels “it’s inappropriate” to answer some of the senators’ questions publicly. “What you feel isn’t relevant, admiral,” King said. “What you feel isn’t the answer. The answer is why are you not answering the questions?”
“You can keep trying to trip me up,” Rogers told Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a former prosecutor and California attorney general. “Senator, if you could, could I get to respond, please, ma’am?” he asked as they talked over each other. “No, sir,” Harris said. “No. No.”
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the committee chairman, put the panel “on notice” minutes later. “The chair is gonna exercise its right to allow the witnesses to answer the question, and the committee is on notice to provide the witnesses the courtesy, which has not been extended all the way across. Extend the courtesy for questions to get answered,” Burr said, interjecting between a back-and-forth from Harris and Rosenstein.
Any attempt to obstruct a federal investigation “would be a subject of concern,” Rosenstein said. Harris pressed the deputy attorney general on why his appointment of a special counsel was done under Justice Department rules that allow him to veto many key moves Robert Mueller may make. Rosenstein pledged — without mentioning the president directly — that any plausible claim of obstruction of justice will be run to ground. “If anybody obstructs a federal investigation, it would be a subject of concern, I don’t care who they are,” Rosenstein said. “I can commit to you … that if there is any credible allegation that anybody seeks to obstruct the federal investigation, it will be investigated appropriately… That’s our responsibility and we’ll see to it.”
“At no time should you be in a position where you come to Congress without an answer,” Burr told the witnesses as he adjourned the hearing. “It may be in a different format. But the requirements of our oversight duties and your agencies demand it.”
McCabe declined to comment on whether Comey had shared details of his conversations with the president with him, including an allegation that Trump asked Comey for his loyalty. “Sir, I’m not gonna comment on conversations the director may have had with the president,” McCabe said. “I know he’s here to testify in front of you tomorrow. You’ll have an opportunity to ask him then.”