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National Intelligence Director Daniel Coats at the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday. Coats says his comments at the event were not meant to criticize how the president handled the Helsinki summit. ASPEN, Colo – National Intelligence Director Daniel Coats sought to clarify the remarks he made at a security conference here that infuriated President Trump and raised the possibility that the nation's top intelligence official could be fired.
While interviewing Coats on the scene of the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday, NBC's Andrea Mitchell read a tweet from the White House announcing that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been invited to Washington. A clearly surprised Coats, who had not been informed of the invitation, laughed and said, "This is going to be special."
In a statement released Saturday, Coats said, "My answer , certainly clumsy, was in no way intended to be disrespectful or to criticize the actions of the president. "
Earlier during the interview on Thursday, Coats said that he did not know what Trump and Putin had discussed at their private meeting in Helsinki this week and that, did he have asked, would have advised against meeting the Russian leader without badistant or note taker.
[ Trump's fallout on Putin: inside the tumultuous week of the White House]
" Coats became thug "A senior US official called these accusations unjust and said that Coats would never try to undermine or embarrbad the president.
Coats and Trump do not want to undermine or embarrbad the president. have no conflicting relationships.Hope, officials say, even if it's not close.What Coats was talking about at all, and so candidly, was a bit out of step with his custom.Some security officials Coats were described as "Marcel Marceau", after the French mime, because "Coats never says anything," said a person who knew this nickname.
Coats, in his statement, said: The entire intel community is committed to providing the best possible information to inform and support the ongoing efforts of President Trump to prevent Russia's interference in our upcoming elections, build international relations to maintain peace, denuclearize dangerous regimes and protect our nation and our allies. "
Trump decided Thursday morning that national security adviser John Bolton would hold a second summit and officially invite Putin, the Washington Post reported.The White House knew that Coats was talking to Aspen when the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, tweeted that Trump had sent an invitation to the Russian president, according to officials.
There is no indication that Coats or his conscious of what was coming. of this announcement was "unfortunate," said the official who defended Coats.
Earlier in the week, Coats also seemed to be moving away from the White House when he issued a statement reaffirming the unanimous conclusion of the agencies intelligence that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections and one of Putin's goals was to help Trump's campaign.
This statement from Coats es t came a few moments after Trump, standing near Putin at a press conference in Helsinki, doubted these conclusions. In Aspen, Coats defended its decision to reaffirm the findings of the intelligence agencies. "It was part of my role, and I felt that it was important that I do it.It was said, it was discussed personally with the President, and I think it's time to do it. go from the front. "
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