Thread: Trump asked DNI, NSA to deny evidence of Russia collusion

President Donald Trump asked two of the government's top intelligence chiefs to publicly deny evidence of cooperation between his campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, multiple current and former US officials confirmed to CNN Monday.

Trump spoke to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers after then-FBI Director James Comey revealed in March that the bureau had launched a probe into alleged collusion.

The President had every right, authority and obligation to request they tell the truth about "collusion with Russia". They have no evidence of collusion, whatever that is, and they need to tell the truth about that to the American People.

When the President returns from his trip, he needs to declassify and order the publishing of everything related to the Russian probe including everything the DNI, NSA, CIA and FBI have including all memos of their internal discussions and meetings from the date the probe was ordered and by whom including all memos, emails, phone calls, and texts by staff of these agencies with anyone related to this Trump campaign, the Trump Administration, Trump White House, Congress, Media and Russia. All of it. DUMP IT ALL INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN and grind this crap to a halt.

Oh wow. Look at Dan Coats history:

Russia

Coats pressed President Barack Obama to punish Russia harshly for its March 2014 annexation of Crimea.[15] For this stance, Coats and several other lawmakers were banned from travelling to Russia.[15]

Someone should get the names of all the other lawmakers banned from Russia over their misplaced hysteria over Crimea. We know McCain and Graham are surely banned from Russia, but I bet there's a lot more.

Coats Won’t Say Whether Trump Asked Him To Push Back on Russia Probe

by Ken Dilanian
May 23 2017, 10:37 am ET

During testimony before Congress Tuesday morning Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats refused to address — but he did not deny — reports that President Trump asked him and another top intel official to push back against allegations the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.

"I don't feel it's appropriate to characterize discussions and conversations with the president," said Coats, a former Republican senator from Indiana, at a Senate Armed Services Committee worldwide threats hearing.

Trump asked Coats in March to say publicly that he saw no evidence the Trump campaign had colluded with the Russian effort to interfere in the 2016 election, a former senior intelligence official told NBC News. The president made the same request to Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, the official said. The requests from Trump were first reported by The Washington Post.

Coats and Rogers were sufficiently concerned about the requests that one of them wrote a memo about it, the former official told NBC News. The two men also exchanged notes about their conversations with the president, the source said.

The Post reported that Trump's conversation with Rogers was documented in an internal memo written by a senior NSA official.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment. The NSA did not respond to a request for comment.

Coats wouldn't discuss the matter when he appeared before the Senate. But he did say, in answer to a hypothetical question, that "any political shaping of intelligence would be inappropriate."

A CIA spokesperson declined to comment when asked if CIA Director Mike Pompeo was also asked by President Trump to push back against an FBI investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and the Russian government.

The former official told NBC News that Coats and Rogers did not believe they were being asked to do something illegal. It was more of a public relations request, they believed, according to the official.

"I don't think (Trump) ever asked somebody to say something that they didn't believe was true," the former official said.

He said the two officials were "sufficiently concerned that it was an extraordinary thing that they took care to write it down, but not sufficiently concerned that they reported it."

The former official said Rogers saw the request as a threat to the NSA, which generally doesn't wade into public debates.

"The White House does not confirm or deny unsubstantiated claims based on illegal leaks from anonymous individuals," a White House spokesman told the Washington Post. "The president will continue to focus on his agenda that he was elected to pursue by the American people."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...h-back-n763551