Trump to pick former Sen. Dan Coats as director of national intelligence

Retired Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., is expected to be named the Trump administration's director of national intelligence, according to a Trump transition official.

Coats, a mild-mannered conservative who served on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees, would be stepping in to a position that some in Trump's orbit believe is superfluous. Trump has named a more hard-charging conservative, U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., to be his director of central intelligence.

The choice of Coats, expected to be announced as early as Friday, comes as Trump is taking public swipes at U.S. intelligence agencies. But with intelligence leaders publicly testifying Thursday on Russian cyberattacks, the president-elect tried to walk some of those jabs back — and blamed the media.

On Twitter, he wrote: "The dishonest media likes saying that I am in Agreement with Julian Assange – wrong. I simply state what he states, it is for the people to make up their own minds as to the truth. The media lies to make it look like I am against "Intelligence" when in fact I am a big fan!"

But it was not the media that suggested a briefing on Russian election interference was delayed this week while intelligence officials got their story straight.