The Director Of National Intelligence Just Said That He Doesn't Know What Trump And Putin Discussed

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The Director Of National Intelligence was asked during the White House press briefing about Trump and Putin discussing Russia’s attacks on the United States during their summit, and he said that he wasn’t in a position to know what they talked about.

Video:

Transcript:

Q: Perhaps ambassador Bolton can weigh in as well. In the run-up to the Helsinki summit, officials, ambassadors to Nato, to Russia, said that the president would raise the issue of malign activity with president Putin. He didn’t discuss that, at least at the press conference. You’re saying today the president has directed you to make the issue of election meddle ago priority. How do you explain the disconnect between what you are saying, his advisers, and what the president has said about this issue?

DNI Dan Coats: I’m not in a position to either understand fully or talk about what happened in Helsinki. I’ll turn it over to the national security director here to address that question.

John Bolton followed up and gave the now standard White House answer that Trump has made it clear who is responsible for the election attack. (He hasn’t.)

The Director of National Intelligence doesn’t know what Trump is saying to an enemy who has been attacking the United States. Instead of guiding the president on national security issues, the intelligence community has been frozen out as Trump is holding secret meetings and phone calls with Putin. The president has gone out of his way not to blame Russia for the attacks on American democracy.

The fact that man running the US intelligence community doesn’t know what Trump is doing is a major problem that should alarm and concern every American.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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