Dan Coats and Rod Rosenstein Defy Trump

[Amaryllis]

Last edited Fri Jul 20, 2018, 08:57 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/dan-coats-and-rod-rosenstein-defy-trump

Long snip

A lifelong Republican who is close to Vice-President Mike Pence, Coats seems to embody the struggle of serving Trump. On Monday, hours after Trump challenged the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, Coats issued a public statement defending the findings. Asked by Mitchell why he issued the statement, Coats said, “I was just doing my job.” He later warned that the meddling was continuing in 2018. “It’s undeniable that the Russians are taking the lead on this,” he said. “Basically, they are the ones that are trying to undermine our basic values and divide us with our allies. They are the ones trying to wreak havoc over our election process.” Coats called Russia “by far” the U.S.’s most aggressive cyberattacker.

snip

Coats then openly questioned two central assumptions underlying Trump’s summitry with Putin and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. Coats said that he doubted that Putin has enough influence to pressure Iran to withdraw its forces from Syria—a goal of Trump’s summit with Putin. And Coats said that he was skeptical that North Korea would abide by an agreement to give up its nuclear arsenal. “I’m a Reagan guy,” he said. “Trust and verify.”

Later that day, Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General and the Justice Department’s chief protector of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, delivered a speech that differed dramatically from Coats’s comments in terms of style but was similarly pointed. Dressed in a navy-blue suit and a pink-striped tie, Rosenstein announced that the Justice Department would now alert the American public if a foreign government was attempting to undermine an election.

Unequivocal in his language and tone, Rosenstein gave a full-throated endorsement of Coats and his warnings about Russia. “As Director Coats made clear, these actions are persistent, they are pervasive, and they are meant to undermine America’s democracy on a daily basis, regardless of whether it is election time or not," Rosenstein said. He added, “The American people have a right to know if foreign governments are targeting them with propaganda.”

Coats and Rosenstein, who has defied pressure from Trump to fire Mueller, both spoke truth. Both received standing ovations. Both are likely to lose their jobs if they keep it up.

***

Those two are true patriots. I am grateful to them and for them.

[RandomAccess]

1. I feel the same way you do

VERY grateful to them both.

And I got SUCH a kick out of Coats and Andrea Mitchell. I've watched that clip again and again. And laughed every damn time. So cute and endearing.

[UTUSN]

2. Hmmm, "close to ... PENCE" ...

[Amaryllis]

3. I noted that but there is a marked difference - Pence is always deferrential to T and Coats

stands up to him and contradicts him when he is wrong.

[DoctorJoJo]

4. Yep--That Part Is Hard to Swallow!

[BigmanPigman]

5. IF they do eventually resign at least they will leave with their

self respect intact. Not many can say that.