Dan Coats to step down as intel chief
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Dan Coats will step down as the director of national intelligence after a tenure in which the two were often at odds over Russian election interference, North Korea and the president’s own attacks on the intelligence community.
“I am pleased to announce that highly respected Congressman John Ratcliffe of Texas will be nominated by me to be the Director of National Intelligence,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “A former U. S. Attorney, John will lead and inspire greatness for the Country he loves. Dan Coats, the current Director, will be leaving office on August 15th. I would like to thank Dan for his great service to our Country. The Acting Director will be named shortly.”
Mr. Ratcliffe has been a staunch defender of Mr. Trump. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, he sharply questioned Robert Mueller, the former special counsel, at last week’s hearing.
Mr. Coats had long been expected to depart of his own accord, an administration official said, but he ended up staying on longer so it would not seem as if he was forced out during a time of conflict with Mr. Trump. In a meeting last week, Mr. Coats told Mr. Trump and Vice Pres- ident Mike Pence that he was ready to move on.
Mr. Coats, who helped devise President George W. Bush’s compassionate conservative agenda, had been an important link between the Trump administration and the Republican establishment. With Mr. Coats gone, those ties, at least on national security matters, are likely to weaken.
But Mr. Trump’s grip on the Republican Party has only strengthened, and he has long since demonstrated that members of the party’s establishment need his support far more than he needs theirs.
Mr. Trump had weighed firing Mr. Coats since he took issue with the president’s assertions, after a 2018 meeting in Finland with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, that challenged the intelligence community’s conclusions that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential race.