Dan Coats: “I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.…”

Electoral legitimacy is the essential linchpin of our entire political culture.

I believe the top of the list will be to reinforce the prime imperative for our Nation's Intelligence Community: to find the truth and to speak truth to power, without fear of political retribution.

The evidence is overwhelming. It can be proven beyond any evidentiary burden that Russia is not our friend and they tried to attack us in 2016.

One of the first things you can do--at this hearing, even--is to make a strong statement of support for professionalism in the IC and pledge that you will not tolerate politics influencing the analytical process.