Hand picked by Mike Pence.
March 26, 2019
Vice President Mike Pence had to talk Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats out of resigning from the Trump administration over his frustrations with the president, according to a new report Tuesday.
Mr. Coats‘ relationship with President Trump allegedly strained following requests by Mr. Trump to find evidence he was wiretapped by former President Barack Obama. The president also called on Mr. Coats to publicly criticize the intelligence community and even accused him of leaking top secret info, officials told NBC News.
The reported breaking point for Mr. Coats, a former Indiana congressman, was Mr. Trump’s decision to remove troops from Syria and the resignation of former Defense Secretary James N. Mattis.
Mr. Pence reportedly had to talk Mr. Coats out of handing in his resignation letter and implored him to stay until at least the end of the summer.
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Indiana’s former senator reluctantly agreed to be Trump’s director of national intelligence because Pence repeatedly asked him to, according to the book. Once in the job, Dan Coats — who had nearly two decades of experience in Congress and also served as ambassador to Germany during 9/11 — nearly found it a little jarring to be told by Trump to talk to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, about a highly sensitive national security issue, according to an unnamed source.