Admiral Mike Rogers told a Senate intelligence committee on Wednesday he has never "been directed to do anything illegal, immoral, unethical or inappropriate" as NSA director.
Top U.S. intelligence officials refused at a Senate hearing on Wednesday to discuss whether President Donald Trump had pressured them to intervene in an Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
Mr Rogers said he will not publicly discuss private conversations he had with the president.
Key US intelligence figures, including Coats, Acting FBI director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, are testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The members of the Senate Intelligence Committee had one question they asked again and again Wednesday of the country's intelligence chiefs: Did President Trump want you to downplay investigations surrounding Russian Federation? "I have never been pressured, never felt pressured to intervene or interfere in any way with shaping intelligence", Coats said.
McCabe refused to say why it was not appropriate to answer questions about any conversations he may have had, and said again that Comey would speak for himself.
Gunmen attack Iran parliament and mausoleum, killing at least one - state media
It described them as "long affiliated with the Wahhabi", an ultraconservative form of Sunni Islam practised in Saudi Arabia. Both attacks were claimed by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), the jihadist organization based in Iraq and Syria.
The back-to-back hearings come as the White House grapples with the fallout from Comey's firing, which led to the appointment of a special counsel to take over the Russian Federation investigation in an effort to prevent even the appearance of Oval Office interference.
"You are inappropriately refusing to answer these questions today", King told Rogers. "And the committee is on notice to provide the witnesses the courtesy -- which has not been extended all the way across -- extend the courtesy for questions to get answers".
Coats also responded to one question about the reports by saying he would answer questions during a closed hearing. But the top Democrat on the committee, Mark Warner, said, you're all very relevant to this ongoing investigation we're doing, and while you are here, I'm going to ask about that.
Rogers told him, "I'm not interested in repeating myself, sir".
Schiff, in an interview on CNN's "The Situation Room", said he would fight any effort from President Donald Trump or his administration to claim executive privilege, preventing Congressional investigators from accessing documents like memos on former FBI Director James Comey's interactions with President Donald Trump. As the briefing was wrapping up, Trump asked everyone to leave the room except for Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
He was referencing a report from The Washington Post late Tuesday that Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats had been pressured by Trump to intervene with Comey. "The question is why are you not answering the question?"
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