United States Embassy in the heart of Berlin next to the Brandenburg Gate. In 2005, Coats drew attention when he was chosen by President George W. Bush to shepherd Harriet Miers's failed nomination to the Supreme Court through the Senate. Echoing Senator Roman Hruska's famous 1970 speech in defense of Harrold Carswell, Coats said to CNN regarding the nomination: "If [being a] great intellectual powerhouse is a qualification to be a member of the court and represent the American people and the wishes of the American people and to interpret the Constitution, then I think we have a court so skewed on the intellectual side that we may not be getting representation of America as a whole." In 2007, Coats served as co-chairman of a team of lobbyists for Cooper Industries, a Texas corporation that moved its principal place of business to Bermuda, where it would not be liable for U.S. taxes. In that role, he worked to block Senate legislation that would have closed a tax loophole, worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Cooper Industries. Coats served as co-chairman of the Washington government relations office of King & Spalding. Director of National Intelligence On January 5, 2017, Coats was announced as then-President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for the Cabinet-level position of Director of National Intelligence, to succeed the outgoing James R. Clapper. His confirmation hearing was held on February 28, 2017, to the United States Senate Intelligence Committee. On March 9, 2017, the United States Senate Intelligence Committee approved the nomination of Coats as National Intelligence Director with a 13–2 vote. The Senate confirmed his nomination with an 85–12 vote on March 15, 2017, and he was sworn into office on March 16. On July 16, 2018, Coats released a statement affirming the consensus of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a day after the 2018 Russia–United States summit where President Trump recanted his endorsement of the IC's assessment. On September 6, 2018, Director Coats denied that he had authored the anonymous op-ed piece from a senior Trump Administration official that criticized the President which had been published by The New York Times the day prior. The day before, MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell speculated that Coats was the author of the guest essay, which was later revealed to have been written by then-United States Department of Homeland Security