Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats brought out the sass when Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) monologued instead of asking questions during Wednesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
Wyden grilled Coats over the privacy of American citizens, alleging that Coats went back on a promise to provide a number for how many law-abiding citizens got caught up in intelligence collection.
Wyden kept talking when Coats tried to respond to the allegations, prompting Coats to snark, “Senator, could I answer the question?”
“Well, my time is short,” Wyden said, and Coats fired back, “Well, I would like to answer the question.”
Coats said that he originally wanted to get a metric on surveillance of American citizens, but was no longer able to do so.
“We were not able to do so,” Coats said shortly. “Working to do it is different than doing it.”
Wyden once again accused Coats of breaking his word but moved to a different topic before Coats could defend himself.
“Could the witness answer the question?” a voice out of the frame can be heard asking.
“Apparently not,” Coats said sarcastically.
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