President Trump announced Sunday that director of National Intelligence Dan Coats will step down next month, and will be replaced by a Texas congressman who has fiercely defended Trump in the Russia investigation.

“I am pleased to announce that highly respected Congressman John Ratcliffe of Texas will be nominated by me to be the Director of National Intelligence. A former U.S. Attorney, John will lead and inspire greatness for the Country he loves,” the president tweeted, adding that Coats’ (inset) last day will be Aug. 15.

Coats, a former senator from Indiana, has drawn Trump’s ire for not defending him publicly on matters of national security and his relationship with Russia.

Coats also seemed critical of Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin during an onstage interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell last year at the Aspen Security Forum.

“That’s going to be special,” Coats said when told of a tweet that Trump had sent inviting Putin to the White House.

And the president wasn’t pleased when Coats contradicted him before a Senate committee hearing by saying North Korea was unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons.

“Perhaps intelligence should go back to school!” Trump wrote in January, after Coats testified about foreign policies that were at odds with the president’s positions.