TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS—The Republican political consultant Rick Wilson wrote a book titled “Everything Trump Touches Dies.â€
One only needs to look at the long list of those forced out of the Trump administration, many with their reputations in tatters, to get his point.
Mary Beth Schneider
Now, Washington is abuzz with talk that soon Dan Coats, the former Indiana senator who is the director of national intelligence, will join the list of ex-Trump appointees. He, though, is the exception to Wilson’s rule. Coats has only burnished his reputation by being that rare administration official who speaks truth to power, whether that truth is welcomed or believed. In fact, I can think of only one other Trump administration refugee — former UN Ambassador Niki Haley — who didn’t limp out of the executive branch.
I was surprised when President Donald Trump picked Coats — not because Coats wasn’t qualified but because he was, eminently so. In an administration where cabinet members either had no or little experience with the agency they led or had experience as an industry lobbyist attacking the agency they now ran, Coats was a choice even Democrats could applaud.
He’d been a member of the House of Representatives and then the Senate where he served on the intelligence committee. He was ambassador to Germany at a pivotal time in the days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Little wonder he was confirmed by an 85-12 vote in March 2017.
It took only weeks before his first clashes with the president became public fodder when Coats reportedly told House investigators that the president wanted him to announce he’d been exonerated by the probe into Russian election interference. Coats instead issued a statement saying that it was “not appropriate for me to comment.â€
In July 2018, Trump shocked many as he stood in Helsinki, Finland, next to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and chose to believe Putin’s denials that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election.
“My people came to me. Dan Coats came to me, and some others,†Trump said. “They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.â€
The next day Coats released a statement saying the intelligence community’s job was to give the president “fact-based assessments.â€
“We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy,†he said. “And we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.â€
Can I get an ‘Amen’?
Then came Trump’s romance with the North Korean dictator. While the president literally talked of love letters with the man who kills his own family to preserve power, Coats told the Senate Intelligence Committee that North Korea remains a threat, with little likelihood of giving up nuclear weapons.
There have been rumors ever since that Vice President Mike Pence, a fellow Hoosier, stopped him from resigning and that Trump was interviewing people for Coats’ job. No matter why Coats is still there, I’m glad he is.
Look at this week’s news. On July 19 — almost exactly a year after Coats contradicted Trump on Russian election interference — Coats created a new position to oversee election security efforts.
“Election security is an enduring challenge and a top priority†for the intelligence community, Coats said.
Too bad it’s not a priority for the president and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Wednesday, reiterating his report at a Congressional hearing, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller repeatedly stressed the danger of foreign tampering in our elections. Asked by one Republican if he thought the Russian interference in 2016 was a one-off, Mueller was clear.
“Oh, this wasn’t a single attempt. They’re doing it as we sit here,†Mueller responded. “And they expect to do it in the next campaign.â€
Yet on that same day, McConnell blocked a bill that would require campaigns to alert law enforcement if they learn of foreign attempts to interfere in elections. And McConnell has rejected calls for the Senate to vote on legislation already passed by the House to improve election security measures.
While Trump and his minions — including Rep. Devin Nunes, the California Republican who has been mentioned as a possible successor to Coats — continue to call Russian interference a hoax and witch hunt, Coats is listening to fact-based assessments and doing what he can to address them.
Trump may not appreciate that.
The nation should.
FOOTNOTE: Mary Beth Schneider is an editor with TheStatehouseFile.com, a news site powered by Franklin College journalists.
To start, Coats isn’t a Hoosier. He’s from Michigan and came to Indiana to be a political flunkie for Dan Quayle. After his tenure as a senator was done, he sold his “residence” in Indiana and changed his legal residency to where he had lived for a decade, the state of Virginia. In 2010, when it appeared John Hostettler, the “moderate” Republicans worst conservative nightmare, was going to win the Republican primary for the Senate, the Republican Senate Election Committee recruited Coats to enter the race if he didn’t have to do anything, as they would handle the election for him. He complied and won the primary even though he wasn’t a legal resident and couldn’t vote for himself.
So, no big loss for Indiana or the country, just another politician wallowing in the swamp.
plain speak………..coats was part of the the swamp………. MAGA kicked coats ass out so according to demoncrats coats a hero MAGA bad………………………ps all this phony russia bullshit happend under barry hussein while big mike was giving him a stiff stick………………
I do not believe the Russians interfered with our election to any great extent. If Coats is so great why didn’t he tell us exactly how the Russians effected our election? Other than a few crippled brain liberals how could they get a person to change their mine. Trump gave Coats another chance and he rejoined the swamp. Liberal democrats are using the Russians as an excuse for Hillary losing. Democrats, you are losing because you want to take my gun even though you have moved out of the danger zone and live in a gated community. You want open borders. You are the ones who want to interfer with our elections by allowing anyone to vote as many times as they wish without ID. Democrats are the single greatest threat our democracy and this country faces. The only way to get our cities, the sewer system ones controlled by democrats cleaned up is for Trump to call them out. Weak democrats like Cummins need to learn a good lesson, getting in the ring with Trump, would be like me getting in the ring with Cassius Clay back when. Coats was sucked in by the NSI. Ever found those nukes yet? If you’ve got the goods on Trump, let us hear something besides CNN garbage.
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