Coats. D Sen DNI

=<div>=</div><div>https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/trump-spewed-vulgarity-about-american-generals-for-not-prioritizing-his-trade-deals-book/</div><div>
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</div><div> Alex Henderson September 9, 2020</div><div>
</div><div>Veteran journalist Bob Woodward conducted a series of interviews with President Donald Trump for his new book, “Rage,” which is due out on September 15 — but the details are already coming out.</div><div>
</div><div>Between December 2019 and July 2020, Woodward conducted 18 on-the-record interviews with the president — and “Rage” is based in part on those interviews. And the revelations are nothing short of explosive.</div><div>
</div><div>Here are seven of the most stunning details</div><div>
</div><div>1. Trump rages about the generals</div><div>
</div><div>Woodward quotes Woodward as saying, “My fucking generals are a bunch of pussies. They care more about their alliances than they do about trade deals.”</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>2. Mattis and Coats recognized Trump’s unfitness</div><div>
</div><div>“Rage,” according to Washington Post reporters Robert Costa and Philip Rucker, contains “brutal assessments of Trump’s conduct from Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, former Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and others:</div><div>
</div><div>Mattis quietly went to Washington National Cathedral to pray about his concern for the nation’s fate under Trump’s command and, according to Woodward, told Coats, “There may come a time when we have to take collective action” since Trump is “dangerous. He’s unfit.”</div><div>
</div><div>In a separate conversation recounted by Woodward, Mattis told Coats, “The president has no moral compass,” to which the director of national intelligence replied: “True. To him, a lie is not a lie. It’s just what he thinks. He doesn’t know the difference between the truth and a lie.”</div><div>
</div><div>3. He knowingly misled about COVID-19</div><div>
</div><div>Another damning thing in Woodward’s book, the Post and CNN are reporting, is that Trump acknowledged that the coronavirus was “deadly” even when he was still claiming that it didn’t pose a major threat to the United States.</div><div>
</div><div>During a February 7 interview, according to CNN, Trump told Woodward, “This is deadly stuff.” Trump told Woodward it was “pretty amazing” how deadly COVID-19 was and acknowledged that it was perhaps five times “more deadly” than the flu.</div><div>
</div><div>“You just breathe the air, and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump told Woodward that day. “And so, that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”</div><div>
</div><div>At that point, coronavirus was spreading rapidly in Mainland China. But Trump was still insisting that it wouldn’t imperil the United States. The COVID-19 death count, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, has since killed more than 189,900 people in the U.S. and over 898,700 people worldwide (as of September 9).</div><div>
</div><div>Trump has said that back in January and February, he had no way of knowing how deadly COVID-19 could become in the U.S. But Robert Costa and Philip Rucker of the Washington Post report that on January 28 — according to Woodward’s book — National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien warned Trump, “This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency. This is going to be the roughest thing you face.”</div><div>
</div><div>Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger agreed with O’Brien that day, telling Trump that based on what he was hearing from contacts in China, COVID-19 was shaping up to be the worst health crisis since the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918/1919 — which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.</div><div>
</div><div>In March, after the World Health Organization had declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic, Trump began to publicly acknowledge how dangerous it was. And during a March 19 conversation, according to Costa and Rucker, Trump admitted to Woodward that he had deliberately downplayed the danger.</div><div>
</div><div>“I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic,” Trump told the journalist/author — who is famous for his Washington Post reporting, with Carl Bernstein, on the Watergate scandal back in the 1970s.</div><div>
</div><div>4. Fauci reportedly lambasted the president in private</div><div>
</div><div>According to “Rage,” expert immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci — who has been part of Trump’s coronavirus task force —  expressed frustration over Trump’s response to the coronavirus crisis, describing Trump’s leadership as “rudderless” and complaining to others that his “attention span is like a minus number.” Fauci, Woodward says in the book, told an associate, “His sole purpose is to get reelected.”</div></div><div>
</div><div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/trumps-lies-cost-tens-of-thousands-of-american-lives-and-bob-woodward-has-the-proof-on-tape/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/trumps-lies-cost-tens-of-thousands-of-american-lives-and-bob-woodward-has-the-proof-on-tape/</a></div><div>
</div><div></div></div>=<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-to-name-bombastic-loyalist-a-top-intel-chief-despite-lack-of-qualifications-report/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-to-name-bombastic-loyalist-a-top-intel-chief-despite-lack-of-qualifications-report/</a>no lnxTrump to name bombastic loyalist as top intel chief despite lack of qualifications: reportAmbassador Richard Grenell with California Wine RepresentativeWritten by David Badash / The New Civil Rights Movement February 19, 2020President Donald Trump is expected to install Richard Grenell, his current Ambassador to Germany, as his next Acting Director of National Intelligence, according to The New York Times. Grenell is known as a bombastic Trump loyalist who has not been well received in Berlin.Some eyebrows are being raised, not due to Grenell’s harsh attitudes but his disturbing lack of qualifications for the job of Director of National Intelligence, also known as the DNI.The DNI is a Cabinet-level official who sits at the very top of the entire Intelligence Community, serving as the head of the 17 federal agencies that comprise it. They also serve as the President’s chief advisor on national security, and produce the top-secret President’s Daily Brief (PDB).
Federal law states quite clearly, “Any individual nominated for appointment as Director of National Intelligence shall have extensive national security expertise.”Ambassador to Germany does not qualify. Grenell previously has served as the spokesperson for the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He has run a public affairs consultancy, has been a Fox News contributor, and for a few days was presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s national security spokesperson, but was forced to step down after conservatives blasted the former governor over Grenell’s sexual orientation.In November the german magazine Der Spiegel ran a damning profile of Grenell titled, “Trump’s Ambassador Finds Few Friends in Germany.” (Ironically, one of the reasons Trump gave for firing his venerated Ambassador to Ukraine was that she was not well-liked in the country, which was false.)
“Since arriving in Berlin as U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell has flouted diplomatic conventions and attempted to interfere in domestic politics. He has since become politically isolated in the German capital,” Der Spiegel reported.
In the extremely “unflattering” article, Grenell is compared to “a right-wing extremist colonial officer.”“The powerful avoid him. Doors have been shut. Few politicians to the left of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AFD) and the populist-conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), want to be seen with him.”It gets worse.
Der Spiegel writes they spoke with 30 sources before publishing their report.
“Almost all of these sources paint an unflattering portrait of the ambassador, one remarkably similar to Donald Trump, the man who sent him to Berlin. A majority of them describe Grenell as a vain, narcissistic person who dishes out aggressively, but can barely handle criticism. His brash demeanor, some claim, hides a deep insecurity, and they say he thirsts for the approval of others.”
All that aside, again, Grenell is not qualified, neither by law nor by common sense.
Some experts agree:

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Garrett M. Graff?@vermontgmgReminder: Jim Clapper spent 50 years in intelligence, headed two agencies, and served as the Under Sec of intel at the Pentagon before becoming DNI. Ric Grenell was ... a notably rude Twitter troll. https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1230262310847029248 …
Maggie Haberman?@maggieNYTNews - President Trump expected to tap Ric Grenell for ODNI https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/us/politics/dni-national-intelligence-director-grenell.html …
Joe Cirincione?@CirincioneThis is a national disgrace. Grenell would be the least qualified intelligence chief in US history.  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/us/politics/dni-national-intelligence-director-grenell.html?referringSource=articleShare …
Richard Grenell, the American ambassador to Germany, was expected to be the president’s pick to be acting director of national intelligence.Trump Expected to Name Richard Grenell as Acting Head of IntelligenceThe move would place a Trump loyalist atop the intelligence agencies long viewed skeptically by the White House.
nytimes.com
Steve Vladeck@steve_vladeckBecause Grenell is Senate-confirmed (as Ambassador to Germany), the President has the authority to name him Acting DNI under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
Of course, there'd be no reason not to nominate him to be the actual DNI if he were actually qualified for the job... https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1230262310847029248 …
Maggie Haberman@maggieNYTNews - President Trump expected to tap Ric Grenell for ODNI https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/us/politics/dni-national-intelligence-director-grenell.html …
Josh Moon@Josh_MoonThe moron running the country is about to appoint the least qualified intelligence director in history - by a wide margin. A move guaranteed to make us less safe as a country. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/us/politics/dni-national-intelligence-director-grenell.html …
Richard Grenell, the American ambassador to Germany, was expected to be the president’s pick to be acting director of national intelligence.Trump Expected to Name Richard Grenell as Acting Head of IntelligenceThe move would place a Trump loyalist atop the intelligence agencies long viewed skeptically by the White House.
nytimes.com923:29 PM - Feb 19, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy52 people are talking about this
Olivia Gazis?@Olivia_GazisReplying to @Olivia_GazisApart from questions about Grenell’s qualifications, temperament and relevant experience for this role, the move also raises questions about the Worldwide Threat Assessment - how soon would a brand new, acting DNI present an annual threat assessment before Congress

<div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/nsa-cia-are-now-attempting-to-withhold-documents-potentially-relevant-to-impeachment-house-intel-chairman">https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/nsa-cia-are-now-attempting-to-withhold-documents-potentially-relevant-to-impeachment-house-intel-chairman</a></div><div>
</div><div><div>no lnx</div><div>
</div><div>NSA, CIA are now attempting to withhold documents ‘potentially relevant’ to impeachment: House Intel chairman</div><div>
</div><div>Written by Daily Kos January 19, 2020</div><div>
</div><div>On ABC’s This Week, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff confirmed a grim report that surface last week: The nation’s top intelligence officials are pushing Congress to cancel the year’s usual testimony to Congress on the nation’s top national security threats because they don’t want to publicly contradict Donald Trump’s false intelligence claims.</div><div>
</div><div>“Unfortunately, I think those reports are all too accurate. The intelligence community is reluctant to have an open hearing, something that we had done every year prior to the Trump administration, because they’re worried about angering the president,” Schiff responded.</div><div>
</div><div>It isn’t an idle concern, from intelligence officials. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was forced out of his position shortly after confirming to Congress that despite Trump’s claims to the contrary, the U.S. had no evidence Iran had an active nuclear weapons program. Trump had a public meltdown, which is a now-daily occurrence, and Coats was given the boot; in the latest degradation of this nation into a kleptocratic and autocratic state, government officials are now reluctant to testify in public about the true dangers facing the nation because if their pronouncements do not match Dear Leader’s political claims, Dear Leader will mark them as personal enemies.</div><div>
</div><div>Schiff’s follow-up was, if possible, worse: He also asserted that this nation’s intelligence agencies are now also withholding documents pertaining to the impeachment charges now filed against Trump.</div><div>
</div><div>“And I’ll say something even more concerning to me, and that is the intelligence community is beginning to withhold documents from Congress on the issue of Ukraine. The NSA, in particular, is withholding what are potentially relevant documents to our oversight responsibilities on Ukraine, but also withholding documents potentially relevant that the senators might want to see during the trial. There are signs that the CIA may be on the same tragic course.”</div><div>
</div><div>While Rep. Schiff was intentionally opaque on what Ukraine-related documents were being withheld from lawmakers, there does seem to be a new effort to withhold documents that the agencies had originally been expected to produce. Politico reports an unnamed Intelligence Committee “official” as saying: “Both the NSA and CIA initially pledged cooperation, and it appears now that the White House has interceded before production of documents could begin.”</div><div>
</div><div>We had long been told that Congress had, in cases of impeachment, necessarily sweeping oversight powers. Again we are learning that these powers can simply be taken away, so long as sufficient numbers in a president’s own party are willing to sign their own names to that act.</div></div><div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/trump-plans-to-install-a-crony-at-the-top-of-the-u-s-intelligence-apparatus-report/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/trump-plans-to-install-a-crony-at-the-top-of-the-u-s-intelligence-apparatus-report/</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div>no linx</div><div>
</div><div>Trump plans to install a crony at the top of the U.S. intelligence apparatus: report</div><div> Hudson Institute https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/</div><div>Written by Cody Fenwick July 28, 2019</div><div>
</div><div>President Donald Trump is planning to appoint Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) to become the director of national intelligence, according to multiple reports including Axios and the New York Times. He will replace Dan Coats, who currently fills the Cabinet-level role overseeing the country’s intelligence agencies.</div><div>
</div><div>Ratcliffe is an aggressive defender of the president. During Wednesday’s congressional hearings with the former special counsel, the Texas Republican accused Robert Mueller of not following the guidelines of his office because he didn’t reach a prosecutorial decision regarding the president. Ratcliffe, like many Republicans, took umbrage with Mueller’s asserting that he did not “exonerate” the Trump, saying that “exoneration” is never a prosecutor’s job. Mueller, however, argued that the unique situation of examining potential presidential crimes was an unusual case.</div><div> </div><div>Coats has long seemed at odds with the president’s view of the intelligence community and foreign policy. Most notably, he appeared stunned when the president announced that he would like to have Russian President Vladimir Putin visit the White House. He burst out laughing at the news.</div><div>
</div><div>“OK! That’s going to be special,” Coats said. The meeting never materialized.</div><div>
</div><div>Coats will step down in the coming days, the Times reported.</div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div></div><div>AN</div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.8; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">According to a report at Politico, Sen, Chuck Grassley (R-IUA) is conducting a war with President Donald Trump’s White House over their refusal to turn over <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/17/trump-spy-agency-william-evanina-grassley-1223956" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 191, 165); transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">information related to Russia</a>.<div class="p1_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.8; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The report states that Grassley “is accusing the Trump administration of stonewalling him over a request for documents related to the Russia investigation,” so he is holding up the nomination of a key Trump appointee.<div class="p2_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.8; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">According to Politico, “The Iowa Republican’s demand for Justice Department documents on its probe of possible links between the Trump campaign and Moscow has left William Evanina’s nomination to head the National Counterintelligence and Security Center in limbo for the past year, frustrating the nation’s top intelligence leaders and even some fellow Senate Republicans.”<div class="p3_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.8; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The report notes that Grassley is specifically seeking documents related to DOJ official Bruce Ohr, “who became a conduit between former British spy Christopher Steele and the FBI.”<div class="p4_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.8; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In a statement submitted to the Congressional Record, Grassley wrote, “The administration’s continued, ongoing, and blatant lack of cooperation has forced my hand.”<div class="p5_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.8; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Grassley has placed the blame for the lack of cooperation on Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and was highly critical of how he is being treated.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.8; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...</div><div></div>=wapono lnx
Health & ScienceWhite House prepares to scrutinize intelligence agencies’ finding that climate change threatens national security The proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security is being spearheaded by William Happer, a National Security Council senior director. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)By Juliet Eilperin andMissy Ryan February 20The White House is working to assemble a panel to assess whether climate change poses a national security threat, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, a conclusion that federal intelligence agencies have affirmed several times since President Trump took office.
The proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security, which would be established by executive order, is being spearheaded by William Happer, a National Security Council senior director. Happer, an emeritus professor of physics at Princeton University, has said that carbon emissions linked to climate change should be viewed as an asset rather than a pollutant.The initiative represents the Trump administration’s most recent attempt to question the findings of federal scientists and experts on climate change and comes less than three weeks after Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats delivered a worldwide threat assessment that identified it as a significant security risk.In late November, Trump dismissed a government report finding that global warming is intensifying and poses a major threat the U.S. economy, saying, “I don’t see it.” Last month, his nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, acting administrator Andrew Wheeler, testified that he did not see climate change as one of the world’s pressing challenges.According to the NSC discussion paper, the order would create a federal advisory committee “to advise the President on scientific understanding of today’s climate, how the climate might change in the future under natural and human influences, and how a changing climate could affect the security of the United States.”The document notes that the government has issued several major reports under Trump identifying climate change as a serious threat. “However, these scientific and national security judgments have not undergone a rigorous independent and adversarial scientific peer review to examine the certainties and uncertainties of climate science, as well as implications for national security,” it said.Francesco Femia, chief executive of the Council on Strategic Risks and co-founder of the Center for Climate and Security, said in an interview that the plan appeared to be an effort to undermine the consensus within the national intelligence community that climate change needs to be addressed to avert serious consequences.“This is the equivalent of setting up a committee on nuclear-weapons proliferation and having someone lead it who doesn’t think nuclear weapons exist,” he said. “It’s honestly a blunt-force political tool designed to shut the national security community up on climate change.”[Trump administration report says climate damage is ‘intensifying’ in U.S.]It is unclear how much support Happer’s initiative has inside the administration: Deputies from more than a dozen agencies have been invited to attend a meeting on the topic on Friday in the White House Situation Room.Several agencies declined to comment on the matter this week, including the NSC, the Pentagon, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence.Happer, who worked at the Energy Department under George H.W. Bush and joined the White House in September to work on “emerging technologies,” is not formally trained as a climate scientist. He developed a national reputation for his work on laser technology used in missile defense and on the interactions between light and atoms.He has sat on the boards of two advocacy groups that have questioned whether global warming poses a serious risk, the CO2 Coalition and the George C. Marshall Institute. Last March, when asked in connection with court proceedings whether he had received money from the fossil fuel industry, Happer said he had been given somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000 from Peabody Coal to testify before a Minnesota Public Utilities Commission hearing.During a December 2016 energy and climate policy summit sponsored by the conservative Heritage Foundation, Happer explained that the CO2 Coalition aimed to counter the idea that carbon dioxide is a pollutant because it is the primary driver of recent climate change.
“I like to call this the CO2 anti-defamation league,” he said, gesturing to a slide, “because there is the CO2 molecule, and it has undergone decade after decade of abuse, for no reason.
“We’re doing our best to try and counter this myth that CO2 is a dangerous pollutant,” he said. “It’s not a pollutant at all. .?.?. We should be telling the scientific truth, that more CO2 is actually a benefit to the earth.”
Most scientists have taken a different view, concluding that the world must curb its carbon output dramatically in the next few decades or risk dire consequences. Global temperatures have risen roughly 1 degree Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, from preindustrial levels. A U.N. report issued in October said the world has to cut its emissions by more than 1 billion tons each year over the next decade to keep the rise from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Trump administration, however, has accelerated domestic fossil fuel production and sought to reverse most of the curbs on greenhouse gas emissions adopted under President Barack Obama. Last year the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published an analysis predicting that global temperature rise could reach 4 degrees Celsius, or 7 degrees Fahrenheit, by 2100 under the government’s current trajectory.
While several Trump appointees have argued that climate change does not pose a significant risk to the nation’s defense capabilities, the Pentagon and intelligence agencies have reached the opposite conclusion.
[Trump grows frustrated with Coats, leading some to fear he might be fired]
The assessment Coats submitted on Jan. 29 to the Senate Intelligence Committee, for example, states, “Global environmental and ecological degradation, as well as climate change, are likely to fuel competition for resources, economic distress, and social discontent through 2019 and beyond.
The Defense Department said in a report submitted to Congress in mid-January that several dozen military installations around the nation already are experiencing climate impacts. The assessment, which called climate change “a national security issue,” said rising seas, wildfires and other such disasters are likely to create more severe problems for the military in the coming years.Juliet EilperinJuliet Eilperin is The Washington Post's senior national affairs correspondent, covering how the new administration is transforming a range of U.S. policies and the federal government itself. She is the author of two books — one on sharks and another on Congress, not to be confused with each other — and has worked for The Post since 1998. Follow <a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/say-again-trumps-intel-chief-bursts-shocked-laughter-after-white-house-announces">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/say-again-trumps-intel-chief-bursts-shocked-laughter-after-white-house-announces</a>the White House were actively trying to undermine its own communications operations, it's hard to imagine that it could do much better than its abysmal performance this week.After dealing with the fallout of President Donald Trump’s botched and disastrous summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, and several transparent attempts to clean up the president’s mess, press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Thursday that the authoritarian leader had been invited to visit the White House in the fall.At almost the exact same time of Sanders’ announcement, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats — a Trump appointee — said at the Aspen Security Forum that Russia is continuing to launch cyberattacks and propaganda warfare against the United States.  When Coats was informed of the upcoming meeting live on stage, he looked shocked: "Say that again?" Then he burst into stunned laughter. "Okay... that's going to be special."Earlier in the talk, he had warned about the danger Putin poses.“We are under attack,” Coats told MSNBC reporter Andrea Mitchell. Russia, he said, was the most aggressive of American foes.So even as the country is posing a serious threat to American security, its authoritarian president will be honored with a White House visit.Coats also leveled measured criticism against the president himself. After Trump had defended Putin on Monday against the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, Coats had issued a statement reiterating the findings.He added that he is constantly afraid of a “cyber 9/11.”"I believed I needed to correct the record,” he told Mitchell. “Obviously, I wished he had made a different statement.”“In Helsinki,<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">@POTUS</a> agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs,” Sanders said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1020033303351619584" style="text-decoration-line: none;">tweet</a> as Coats was speaking. “President Trump asked<a href="https://twitter.com/AmbJohnBolton/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">@AmbJohnBolton</a> to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway.”<div class="teads-inread" style="overflow: hidden; height: 0px; transition: height 0.5s; box-sizing: content-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px auto; max-width: 550px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px !important; position: relative;"><div class="teads-player" id="teads1" style="margin-bottom: 0px !important;"></div></div></div>Watch Coats' interview below (Coats learns of the Putin meeting at 45:08)===nrdc toxic 20 states:  Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia, Texas, Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi -- supported a resolution by Sen. James Inhofe, to limit mercury and other air emissions

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Daniel Ray "Dan" Coats (born May 16, 1943) is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seniority" title="Seniority" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">senior</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United States Senator</a> from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana" title="Indiana" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Indiana</a> and member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Republican Party</a>. He was in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United States Senate</a>from 1989 to 1999, retired, and then returned in 2011.

Born in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson,Michigan" title="Jackson, Michigan" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Jackson</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan" title="Michigan" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Michigan</a>, Coats graduated from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheaton_College,Illinois" title="Wheaton College, Illinois" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Wheaton College</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois" title="Illinois" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Illinois</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_University_Robert_H.McKinney_School_of_Law" title="Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law</a>. He served in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army" title="United States Army" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">U.S. Army</a> from 1966 to 1968. Before serving in the U.S. Senate, Coats was a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United States House of Representatives</a>, representing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana%27s_4th_congressional_district" title="Indiana's 4th congressional district" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Indiana's 4th congressional district</a> from 1981 to 1989. He was appointed to fill the seat vacated by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Quayle" title="Dan Quayle" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Dan Quayle</a> following Quayle's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,1988" title="United States presidential election, 1988" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">election</a> as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States" title="Vice President of the United States" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Vice President of the United States</a> in 1988. Coats won the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_special_election_in_Indiana,1990" title="United States Senate special election in Indiana, 1990" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1990 special election</a> to serve the remainder of Quayle's unexpired term, as well as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_Indiana,1992" title="United States Senate election in Indiana, 1992" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1992 election</a> for a full six-year term. He did not seek reelection in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_Indiana,_1998" title="United States Senate election in Indiana, 1998" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1998</a>, and was succeeded by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Bayh" title="Evan Bayh" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Evan Bayh</a>.

After retiring from the Senate, Coats served as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Ambassador_to_Germany" title="United States Ambassador to Germany" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">U.S. Ambassador to Germany</a> from 2001 to 2005, and then worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. He was re-elected to the Senate by a large margin in 2010, succeeding Bayh, who announced his own retirement shortly after Coats declared his candidacy. He is the only current Senator to have returned to the Senate having previously retired, and one of two senators, along with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lautenberg" title="Frank Lautenberg" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Frank Lautenberg</a>, who returned to the Senate after their retirement.

<h2 style="font-weight: bold; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Coats#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">hide</a>] </div>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Coats#Early_life.2C_education_and_career" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1 Early life, education and career</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Coats#U.S._House_of_Representatives" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2 U.S. House of Representatives</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Coats#U.S._Senate" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3 U.S. Senate</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Coats#Political_positions" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">4 Political positions</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Coats#Between_U.S._Senate_tenures" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">5 Between U.S. Senate tenures</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Coats#Political_campaigns" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">6 Political campaigns</a>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Coats#Personal_life" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">7 Personal life</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Coats#References" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">9 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Coats#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">10 External links</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

Daniel R. Coats, a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican" title="Republican" class="mw-redirect">Republican</a>, is a U.S. Senator from Indiana since January 2011.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_R._Coats#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a> Previously Coats represented Indiana in the U.S. Senate from 1989 to 1999, and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1988.

On August 15, 2001, Daniel R. Coats was appointed by President <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_W._Bush" title="George W. Bush" class="mw-redirect">George W. Bush</a> as U.S. Ambassador to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Germany" title="Germany">Germany</a>.

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="javascript:toggleToc()" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_R._Coats#Overview">1 Overview</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_R._Coats#Resources_and_articles">2 Resources and articles</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_R._Coats#Related_SourceWatch_articles">2.1 Related SourceWatch articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_R._Coats#References">2.2 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_R._Coats#External_resources">2.3 External resources</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>Overview</h2>

"On retirement from the U.S. Senate in 1999, Ambassador Coats joined former Senate Majority Leaders <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bob_Dole" title="Bob Dole">Bob Dole</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_Mitchell" title="George Mitchell">George Mitchell</a> as Special Counsel with the Washington law firm of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Verner,Liipfert,Bernhard,_McPherson_and_Hand&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand (page does not exist)">Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand</a>.

"Before his election to the U.S. Congress, Ambassador Coats served as Indiana Director for then Congressman <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=J._Danforth_Quayle" title="J. Danforth Quayle">J. Danforth Quayle</a>, from 1977-1980. Prior to his career in politics, he was Assistant Vice President of a Fort Wayne, Indiana, life insurance company. Ambassador Coats served in the U.S. Army from 1966-68.

"As Senator, Ambassador Coats was a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, serving as Chairman of the Military Personnel and Air/Land Forces Subcommittees. He also served on the Senate Select Committee for Intelligence and the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. In the Senate, he joined with Democratic Senator <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Joseph_I._Lieberman" title="Joseph I. Lieberman" class="mw-redirect">Joseph I. Lieberman</a> in advocating and authorizing a number of defense reform and transformation initiatives.

"Ambassador Coats is the author of 'The Project for American Renewal and Mending Fences: Renewing Justice Between Government and Civil Society'. He is a past President of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Big_Brothers_Big_Sisters_of_America&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (page does not exist)">Big Brothers Big Sisters of America</a>, and has served on a number of boards, and civic and volunteer organizations, including the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Jewish_and_Christian_Values" title="Center for Jewish and Christian Values">Center for Jewish and Christian Values</a>, which he co-chaired with Senator Lieberman.

"Ambassador Coats is a graduate of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wheaton_College" title="Wheaton College">Wheaton College</a> and holds a juris doctor degree from Indiana University School of Law, where he was Associate Editor of the Law Review. He holds three honorary doctoral degrees."

Sources: <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/6087.htm" class="external text" title="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/6087.htm" rel="nofollow">Congressional Biography</a>; <a href="http://www.wheaton.edu/learnres/ARCSC/collects/sc98/bio.htm" class="external text" title="http://www.wheaton.edu/learnres/ARCSC/collects/sc98/bio.htm" rel="nofollow">Wheaton College Biography</a>.

<hr />

Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) is a "graduate of Wheaton College (IL) (1965) and the University of Indiana School of Law (1971). He served in the U.S. Army (1966-1968) and then practiced law before entering politics. He served first as district representative for U.S. Congressman Dan Quayle (1976-1980). He was then elected to the 97th Congress, as well as to the three succeeding Congresses (1981-1989); he was also elected to the One Hundred First Congress but did not serve. Coats was then appointed to the United States Senate December 12, 1988, to fill the vacancy caused by the election of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=J._Danforth_Quayle" title="J. Danforth Quayle">J. Danforth Quayle</a> as Vice President, and was sworn in on January 3, 1989. He was reelected by special election in 1990 to complete the remainder of the term ending January 3, 1993; in 1992 he was reelected to the term ending January 3, 1999. Senator Coats was not a candidate for reelection in 1998.

"Senator Coats' primary legislative concern in both houses of Congress has been policies affecting families and children. Known for his leadership in the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_for_American_Renewal&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Project for American Renewal (page does not exist)">Project for American Renewal</a> and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Renewal_Alliance&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Renewal Alliance (page does not exist)">Renewal Alliance</a>, the senator has been seeking to change the relation of government to society by means of laws that will strengthen non-government institutions."

Taken from 1997 Leadership Award from the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Center_for_Public_Justice&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="The Center for Public Justice (page does not exist)">The Center for Public Justice</a><a href="http://www.cpjustice.org/stories/storyReader$46" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.cpjustice.org/stories/storyReader$46" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>.

<h2>Resources and articles</h2>

<h3>Related SourceWatch articles</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Andrew_Marshall_Acolytes/Jedi_Knights" title="Andrew Marshall Acolytes / Jedi Knights">Andrew Marshall Acolytes / Jedi Knights</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bush_administration" title="Bush administration">Bush administration</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Compassionate_conservatism" title="Compassionate conservatism" class="mw-redirect">compassionate conservatism</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Revolution_in_military_affairs" title="Revolution in military affairs">revolution in military affairs</a></li>

</ul>

<h3>References</h3>

<li id="cite_note-0"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_R.Coats#cite_ref-0" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Daniel_R.Coats" class="external text" title="http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Daniel_R._Coats" rel="nofollow">Daniel R. Coats profile</a>, The Washington Post, accessed January 2011.</li>

</ol>

<h3>External resources</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000542" class="external text" title="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000542" rel="nofollow">Daniel R. Coats short bio</a>, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, accessed January 2011.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=53291" class="external text" title="http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=53291" rel="nofollow">Daniel R. Coats profile</a>, Project Vote Smart, accessed January 2011.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00003845&newmem=Y" class="external text" title="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00003845&newmem=Y" rel="nofollow">Daniel R. Coats money</a>, Open Secrets, accessed January 2011.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/797/000127416/" class="external text" title="http://www.nndb.com/people/797/000127416/" rel="nofollow">Daniel R. Coats profile</a>, NNDB, accessed January 2011.</li>

<li><a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/senate/indiana" class="external text" title="http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/senate/indiana" rel="nofollow">Election 2010 Indiana Senate Profile</a>, The New York Times, accessed January 2011.</li>

</ul>

<div id="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Category</a>: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Members_of_the_U.S._Congress_from_Indiana" title="Category:Members of the U.S. Congress from Indiana">Members of the U.S. Congress from Indiana</a></div>

</div>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_R.Coats">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_R.Coats</a>

===

<table id="topContrib" class="datadisplay"><thead><tr><th>Contributor</th><th>Total</th><th>Indivs</th><th>PACs</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr class="rowTint"><td>Eli Lilly & Co</td><td class="number">$101,856</td><td class="number">$78,900</td><td class="number">$22,956</td></tr><tr><td>Barnes & Thornburg</td><td class="number">$63,550</td><td class="number">$63,550</td><td class="number">$0</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Elliott Management</td><td class="number">$40,832</td><td class="number">$40,832</td><td class="number">$0</td></tr><tr><td>PepsiCo Inc</td><td class="number">$40,200</td><td class="number">$26,700</td><td class="number">$13,500</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Northrop Grumman</td><td class="number">$36,000</td><td class="number">$0</td><td class="number">$36,000</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>Top 5 Industries, 1989 - 2012</h2>

</div>

<table id="topIndus" class="datadisplay"><thead><tr><th>Industry</th><th>Total</th><th>Indivs</th><th>PACs</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr class="rowTint"><td>Insurance</td><td class="number">$451,418</td><td class="number">$135,930</td><td class="number">$315,488</td></tr><tr><td>Securities & Investment</td><td class="number">$386,941</td><td class="number">$336,306</td><td class="number">$50,635</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Retired</td><td class="number">$383,852</td><td class="number">$383,852</td><td class="number">$0</td></tr><tr><td>Health Professionals</td><td class="number">$379,922</td><td class="number">$222,922</td><td class="number">$157,000</td></tr><tr class="rowTint"><td>Lawyers/Law Firms</td><td class="number">$367,017</td><td class="number">$299,380</td><td class="number">$67,637</td></tr></tbody></table>

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Coats. D Sen DNI

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