Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to step down

Dan Coats.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats is leaving his post, effective Aug. 15, President Trump tweeted on Sunday.

Trump thanked Coats for his "great service to our country," and said an acting director will be named soon. He also revealed he plans on nominating Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) to replace Coats. First elected to Congress in 2014, Ratcliffe is a Trump loyalist and skeptic of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.