Many of those queries centered on recent media reports. On Tuesday night, The Washington Post reported that Trump asked Coats in March if the director could compel Comey to ease up on the FBI’s inquiry into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Coats reportedly decided it “would be inappropriate” for him to do so, according to unnamed officials. That story followed another from the Post, published in May, asserting that Trump had previously asked both Coats and Rogers to publicly refute the possibility of collusion with Russia during the presidential election.

While the witnesses felt comfortable saying they hadn’t felt pressured to intervene in an investigation, they declined to answer direct questions about whether the alleged questions or requests had ever come up. At one point, Florida Senator Marco Rubio asked if Coats was “prepared to say that you have never felt—never been asked by the president or the White House to influence an ongoing investigation?”

“I am willing to come before the committee and tell you what I know and what I don’t know,” Coats replied. “What I’m not willing to do is to share what I think is confidential information that ought to be protected in an open hearing, and so I’m not prepared to answer your question today.”

“Director Coats, with the incredible respect I have for you, I am not asking for classified information,” Rubio said. “I am asking whether or not you have ever been asked by anyone to influence an ongoing investigation.”

“I understand, but I'm not going to go down that road in a public forum,” Coats replied. “And I also was asked the question if the special prosecutor called upon me to meet with him to ask his questions, I said I would be willing to do that.”

During an exchange with Republican Senator John McCain, Coats again emphasized his unwillingness to discuss specifics, but suggested he could speak more freely in a closed, or private, session with the panel.

“I would hope we’d have the opportunity to do that,” he said. Coats “did not want to publicly share what I thought were private conversations with the president of the United States—most, if not all of them, intelligence-related and classified,” he explained. “I didn’t think it was appropriate for the Post to report what it reported or to do that in an open session.”

The officials’ efforts to avoid answering questions grated on some of the Democratic lawmakers, as well as on Independent Senator Angus King of Maine, who excoriated Coats and Rogers for not being more forthcoming. When King tried to extract an answer from the NSA director, Rogers replied: “It's not appropriate in an open forum to discuss those classified conversations.”

“What is classified about a conversation involving whether or not you should intervene in the FBI investigation?” King countered. “I stand by my previous comments,” Rogers replied.