But as the official who in 2019 established the intelligence community’s program to coordinate briefings on foreign election threats, he said he felt obliged to speak publicly. “[Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin ought to be very happy with the way this is turning out,” Coats said. Coats is firm that Russia is the most significant foreign threat to the 2020 election. After Trump learned of the briefing from a GOP ally, he fired Coats’s successor, acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire. Pierson kept her job, but Evanina was moved in to run the Hill briefings, though Pierson is marshaling the intelligence and has attended briefings with Evanina.

Source: Washington Post September 09, 2020 22:00 UTC