Coats responds to report Trump asked him to push back against FBI's Russia probe: Not "appropriate to characterize discussions" w/president. pic.twitter.com/WxDELpPjFc
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) May 23, 2017
UPDATE 10:15 a.m. EST: Coats declined to discuss the report on Capitol Hill.
ORIGINAL STORY: Adm. Michael Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, and Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, were asked by President Trump to publicly denounce the investigation into whether his campaign had colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, The Washington Post reported.
Both Rogers and Coats declined the request as they considered it to be inappropriate. The conversations were recorded in memos.
Outrageous demand by @realDonaldTrump to Coats and Rogers is more damning evidence of Abuse of Power & Obstruction of Justice by @POTUS. https://t.co/cehLaDP2Ys
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) May 22, 2017
Politicians have taken to Twitter to speak out on the reports.
The revelations come to light after it was revealed that President Trump also requested that former FBI Director James Comey drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Comey was fired by Trump in mid-May, raising questions about whether the president sought to discredit the FBI investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the election.
Oh, also Trump wanted Coats and Rogers to "intervene" with Comey and ask him to stop investigating Flynn! pic.twitter.com/sZUU6akEc2
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) May 22, 2017
Trump also asked Rogers and Coats to see what they could do about Comey and the FBI.
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