NBC: Coats Told House Intel Committee Trump Is Obsessed With Russia Probe

UNITED STATES - APRIL 30: Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., speaks during the news conference on Ukraine on Wednesday, April 30, 2014. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
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Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told investigators with the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday that President Donald Trump seemed obsessed with the Russia probe and asked Coats several times to publicly deny that there was evidence of collusion, NBC News reported Thursday evening, citing an unnamed U.S. official.

Coats and Adm. Mike Rogers, the National Security Agency director, told special counsel Robert Mueller and Senate investigators last week that Trump suggested that they publicly deny that there was evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia, according to a CNN report.

During a public hearing with the Senate Intelligence Committee, both Coats and Rogers declined to discuss their conversations with Trump. Rogers said at the time that he had not been “directed to do anything I believe to be illegal, immoral, unethical or inappropriate.” Coats told the Senate committee that he “never felt pressure to intervene or interfere in any way with shaping intelligence in a political way or in relationship to an ongoing investigation.”

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