During the conference, Trump sided with Putin over his own intelligence agencies on the now-settled question of Russian election interference.

“The role of the Intelligence Community is to provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the President and policymakers,” Coates wrote. “We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.”

An unnamed official added that the statement was “not cleared by the White House.”