US intelligence chiefs say they didn't feel 'pressured' by Trump

Top US intelligence officials on Wednesday would not confirm reports that they had been pressured by US President Donald Trump on the investigation into Russian interference in the US elections, but claimed they had never felt "pressured" to intervene.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers told the Senate intelligence committee that they would not discuss private conversations with the president publicly.

The Washington Post reported late Tuesday that Trump had asked Coats to ask then-FBI chief James Comey to back away from an investigation into Trump's former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

The newspaper had earlier reported on a separate incident in which Trump had allegedly asked Coats and Rogers to weigh in on the investigation.

"I have never been pressured, I have never felt pressure to interfere or intervene in shaping intelligence in a political way," Coats told the panel.

Rogers maintained that in his three years as head of the spy agency he had not been directed to do anything he thought was illegal, immoral or unethical.

The testimony comes just one day before Comey is due to appear before the same Senate committee to answer questions about his dealings with the president and whether he had been asked to end the investigation into Flynn.