--- title: James Comey: Dan Coats, Mike Rogers 'Never Felt Pressured' description: Director of National Intelligence says he "never felt pressure" to interfere or intervene in any investigation canonical: https://time.com/4809068/james-comey-dan-coats-mike-rogers-donald-trump/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-07T15:39:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T07:11:16.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Intelligence Chiefs Say They Weren't 'Pressured' to Intervene in FBI Investigation og:description: But they would not say what Trump talked to them about. og:url: https://time.com/4809068/james-comey-dan-coats-mike-rogers-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4cd291368daf4c7/6988d09c8fd2eeb3233576a7/gettyimages-687260390.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Director of National Intelligence Agency Dan Coats testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on May 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Intelligence Chiefs Say They Weren't 'Pressured' to Intervene in FBI Investigation twitter:description: But they would not say what Trump talked to them about. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4cd291368daf4c7/6988d09c8fd2eeb3233576a7/gettyimages-687260390.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Intelligence Chiefs Say They Weren't 'Pressured' to Intervene in FBI Investigation > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:11 AM UTCPublished: Jun 7, 2017 3:39 PM UTC  Director of National Intelligence Agency Dan Coats testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on May 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. Director of National Intelligence Agency Dan Coats testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on May 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:11 AM UTCPublished: Jun 7, 2017 3:39 PM UTC Director of National Intelligence [Dan Coats](http://time.com/4808820/dan-coats-andrew-mccabe-senate-watch-online/) said he has “never been pressured” to intervene in an ongoing investigation, but he would not say whether President Trump asked him to influence the FBI’s investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Speaking at a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, Coats reiterated that he had not felt pressured by Trump to interfere, but he said that he would not get into the details of conversations he had with the president. “In my time of service … I have never been pressured, never felt pressured to intervene or interfere in any way with shaping intelligence,” Coats said. His public testimony comes on the heels of a [Washington _Post_ story](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/top-intelligence-official-told-associates-trump-asked-him-if-he-could-intervene-with-comey-to-get-fbi-to-back-off-flynn/2017/06/06/cc879f14-4ace-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.eacd50d1114f) that Coats told associates that Trump asked him to try to get then-FBI Director James Comey to stop focusing on Flynn in the ongoing Russia investigation. In a statement to the _Post_, a spokesperson for Coats said the intelligence director had “never felt pressured by the President or anyone else in the Administration to influence any intelligence matters or ongoing investigations.” At Wednesday’s hearing, National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers also said in his three-plus years as head of the NSA, he had never been directed to do anything he believed to be “illegal, immoral, or inappropriate” or felt pressured to do anything. The _Post_ had also reported that Trump[ asked Rogers and Coats to publicly deny](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-asked-intelligence-chiefs-to-push-back-against-fbi-collusion-probe-after-comey-revealed-its-existence/2017/05/22/394933bc-3f10-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.f8e88856aaae) that there is any evidence that his campaign had connections to Russia. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4809068/james-comey-dan-coats-mike-rogers-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4809068/james-comey-dan-coats-mike-rogers-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Intelligence Chiefs Say They Weren't 'Pressured' to Intervene in FBI Investigation","datePublished":"2017-06-07T15:39:42.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T07:11:16.000Z","description":"Director of National Intelligence says he \"never felt pressure\" to interfere or intervene in any investigation","url":"https://time.com/4809068/james-comey-dan-coats-mike-rogers-donald-trump/","keywords":["Congress","White House","intelligence","Donald Trump","Michael Flynn"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4cd291368daf4c7/6988d09c8fd2eeb3233576a7/gettyimages-687260390.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4cd291368daf4c7/6988d09c8fd2eeb3233576a7/gettyimages-687260390.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Director of National Intelligence Agency Dan Coats testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on May 23, 2017 in Washington, DC.","caption":"Director of National Intelligence Agency Dan Coats testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on May 23, 2017 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4809068/james-comey-dan-coats-mike-rogers-donald-trump/","name":"Intelligence Chiefs Say They Weren't 'Pressured' to Intervene in FBI Investigation"}}]}] ```