spearheaded by special counsel robert mueller. this raises a lot of questions obviously. a short time ago before we went on air, i spoke to leon panetta. secretary panetta, what do you make of this news that both dni coats and nsa director rodgers, that president trump did ask them to publicly say there was no collusion. i think it s something that the special counsel has to investigate to determine exactly what that conversation was like. because it obviously raises some serious implications, and there s no question that the special counsel will look at that conversation. from your experience in government, how unusual is it for a president to be having this kind of a conversation with director of national intelligence, with the head of the nsa, asking them to make, you know, a statement about
secretary and served as chief of staff. secretary panetta, what do you make of this news that both dni coates and nsa director rodgers, that president trump did ask them to publicly say there was no collusion. but did not order them? i think it s something that the special counsel has to investigate to determine exactly what that conversation was like. because it obviously raises some serious implications, and there s no question that the special counsel will look at that conversation. from your experience in government, how unusual is it for a president to be having this kind of a conversation with director of national intelligence? with the head of the nsa, asking them to make, you know, a statement about there was no collusion? it s unheard of. in terms of my experience in government, particularly with presidents, both republican and
was adam schiff, it was coats or somebody else in the room? no, no, no. no. i don t think the man who asked us to promise that we would not leak the information leaked it. there were eight other people in the room. i don t know who it was. i m not going to speculate. i m not going to guess. i can tell you who it wasn t. it wasn t me, and i don t think it was representative schiff, because i know him, and because he joined me in making the pledge to a witness that we would not do the very thing that was done. so let me ask you on the substance of it. if director coats, director rodgers, say the president suggested that they come out publicly and say there was no collusion. we ve obviously heard the former fbi director jims comey say, when he was talking about the general flynn investigation, that he felt that the president s request that he stop that was an order. he took it as such. when you take all of these things together, do you think in any way, congressman, that it
have to find a means necessary to convey those answers. i think it is a compelling case, thatven if there was a claim of privilege, it has been waived by the president talking about this, but also by their opening statements when director rodgers tries to leave the impression that he has not been direct thd to do something improper, it is a attempt to mislead, but he can t have it both ways. as the hearing adjourned, the republican chairman chiding them saying don t come back here with no answers. they re clearly going to have a closed session on all of this. where does your own house investigation stand? we routinely have both of those directors come before our committee, and this hearing today was on section 702. we re going to have our own hearing on section 702, but you
conversations testify before the public about them. let me ask you about something you tweeted just to clarify where we stand on all of this after a day of questions and nonanswers. you tweeted directors rogers and coats felt pressured is not issue, if potus taught to interfere is. public seeks the answer and we will get it. the question is not if they felt pressures, but if they were asked at al the carefully worded statement by director rodgers, that was scripted out in advance. it was very carefully worded nondenial. the issue, whether there is obstruction of justice or interference in the investigation, doesn t go to if they felt pressured, if they felt they could resist pressure, if they were directed to do something. the question is is is this whae