While speaking at the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats stated he wished President Trump had “made a different statement” on Russian election interference in Helsinki, but that Trump’s statements have been clarified.
Interviewer Andrea Mitchell asked, “[W]hen you watched that in Helsinki, what was your gut reaction watching him validate Vladimir Putin’s assessment over yours?”
Coats said, “Well, my thoughts there were that I believed I needed to correct the record for that. And that this is the job I signed up for, and that was my responsibility. Obviously, I wished he had made a different statement, but I think that now that has been clarified, based on his late reactions to this. And so, I don’t think I want to go any further than that.”
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