(CN) - Two of the nation's top intelligence officials Wednesday declined to answer questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee about their private conversations with President Donald Trump.
National Intelligence Director Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers kept mum when responding to senators' questions about whether Trump pressured them to publicly downplay the significance of the FBI's investigation into Russia's election meddling and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.
Both said they would not discuss any details of his private conversations with the president in an open setting, but during questioning from Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, of Virginia, they tried to assure the committee they had never been pressured or felt pressured to intervene in shaping intelligence products.
"In the three plus years that I have been the director of the National Security Agency ... I have never been directed to do anything I believe to be illegal, immoral, unethical or inappropriate. And to the best of my recollection, during that same period of service, I do not recall ever feeling pressured to do so,” Rogers said.
Coats maintained he did not feel it appropriate to discuss confidential conversations with the president in public session.
"Most of the information I've shared with the president has obviously [been] directed toward intelligence matters," he said.
"In terms of intelligence matters, or any other matters that have been discussed, it is my belief that it's inappropriate for me to share that with the public," Coats added.
Warner found their responses disappointing.
“All I would say director Coats, there was a chance here to lay to rest some of these press reports if the president is asking you to intervene or downplay,” he said. “You may not have felt pressure but if he's even asking, to me that is a very relevant piece of information.”
The administration's top national security officials appeared alongside acting FBI director Andrew McCabe and deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein before the Senate panel Wednesday.
The hearing was supposed to focus on renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but Democrats on the committee steered much of the conversation toward recent news reports about conversations the men had with the president about the Russia investigation.
It has been reported Trump asked Rogers and Coats to publicly state there was no evidence that his campaign colluded with Russia during the election.
On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Coats told associates in March that President Trump had asked him if he could intervene with former FBI director James Comey to get the bureau to pull back from its investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its probe of Russian election meddling.
And in May, the Washington Post reported that Trump had also appealed to Rogers to publicly deny the existence of any evidence suggesting that his campaign had colluded with Russian election meddling.
Both of those conversations are said to have taken place after Comey's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on March 20 when he announced that the FBI was investigating possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign during the election.
Warner said the committee had "facts" showing that other officials were aware that the conversation Rogers reportedly had with Trump had taken place, and suggested a memo had been written about it.
