https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/dan-coats-and-rod-rosenstein-defy-trump
"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. When asked if he approved of Trump’s decision to meet alone with Putin in Helsinki, Coats replied, “I would have suggested a different way.” He added, “But that’s not my role. That’s not my job.” 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."
