Intelligence chief Coats defends finding

Intelligence chief Coats defends finding that Russia meddled in the election

By NAHAL TOOSI

The U.S. director of national intelligence is defending American spies’ assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election — a push back against President Donald Trump, who appeared to indicate Monday that he believes Russian leader Vladimir Putin's denials on the matter.

In a statement issued not long after Trump held an extraordinary news conference with Putin in Helsinki, Dan Coats said the U.S. intelligence community has "been clear" about its findings.

"The role of the Intelligence Community is to provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the president and policymakers," said Coats, who took over as U.S. director of national intelligence in March 2017. "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."

U.S. intelligence agencies have long concluded that Russia, using cyberattacks and other means, interfered in the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump. Special counsel Robert Mueller last week indicted 12 Russian intelligence officials over alleged interference.

The intelligence agencies have not taken a position on whether that interference was what helped Trump win. But just a few days ago, Coats publicly warned that Russia is still trying to mess with U.S. election systems, a stark alert ahead of November's midterms.

Trump has long downplayed the intelligence assessments, even as he's repeatedly sought to gain favor with Putin. During the news conference on Monday, Trump was pressed on who believed — U.S. intelligence or Putin — on the subject of election meddling. And he seemed to suggest that Putin's denials were more reliable.

“I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Trump said. At one point, Trump dodged the question by switching the topic to alleged misconduct by Democrats during the campaign.

The comments were interpreted as a slap at Coats, as well as the rest of the U.S. intelligence community. Some observers called on Coats to resign, but he did not indicate he had any such plans in his statement.

During the press conference, Putin dismissed the idea that his country had interfered in the 2016 race, but he acknowledged that he wanted Trump to win, saying he liked the notion that Trump wanted to improve the relationship between the U.S. and Russia.