Former DNI Dan Coats Breaks Silence in Rare Statement Slamming Trump Intel Chief for Scaling Back Briefings: ‘Wrong Thing to Do’

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President Donald Trump’s first director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, effectively called out his official successor on Wednesday, breaking his longtime silence to condemn John Ratcliffe over his plan to only give in-person intelligence briefings to the GOP-led Senate and not of the Democratic-led House.

Then-Congressman Ratcliffe’s name was floated as Coats’ replacement in the summer of 2019, but then his nomination was scuttled by the White House after several reports found he had mischaracterized his national security bona fides on his resumé. But a year later, and still no official Senate-confirmed replacement, the Trump administration pushed his name again and Ratcliffe narrowly passed with a plurality of votes, 49 – 44, getting the fewest number of votes in the history of the DNI position.

According to a report in the Washington Post, Coats, in a rare public rebuke, criticized Ratcliffe’s decision to skip in-person briefings to House Democrats, based on a claimed attempt to minimize leaks (which document briefings would still be at risk of).

“These briefings in person should be delivered to both the Senate and the House oversight committees and also should be delivered to the duly elected members of the House and Senate at the appropriate classification level when directed by the bipartisan leadership of both the House and the Senate,” Coats said to the Post. “We must stand united in defending the election security process from being corrupted and ensure that a vote cast is a vote counted.”

Coats told the newspaper that the apparent politicization of the intel briefings prompted him to speak out.

“We’ve got to get this process back in place,” Coats emphasized. “Designating it to one committee and not the other and shutting down all members briefings is the wrong thing to do.”

In addition, Coats insisted that Russia remains the greatest threat to the nation’s election security as the 2020 presidential campaign reaches its home stretch. “They clearly have demonstrated the capacity to do things other countries either can’t do or have decided not to do,” Coats said in his assessment of Russian meddling. “And they have a long, long history there.”