The friction between Trump and Coats was something of an open secret by the time Coats' resignation was announced last July. Throughout his tenure as DNI, Coats repeatedly warned about continued Russian attacks against the US electoral system and critical infrastructure. His statements often stood in sharp contrast to the president's well documented reluctance to acknowledge the threat Moscow poses.
Conversely, Ratcliffe often fuels the president's unfounded conspiracy theories. He told Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo that former FBI director James Comey "either is or should be" investigated for violating the Espionage Act, for memorializing his conversations with the president in the Oval Office, and for later instructing a friend to share that information with the press.
He later said during a Fox News interview that "there were crimes committed during the Obama administration" related to investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
During Mueller's hearings, Ratcliffe came out guns blazing against the former FBI director, accusing him of breaking Justice Department protocol while investigating Trump for obstruction of justice.
And The Daily Beast reported just hours before Ratcliffe was scheduled to testify on Tuesday that the Texas congressman follows a slew of Qanon accounts on Twitter. Among those he follows are accounts that push the Pizzagate conspiracy theory and a 9/11 truther with just one follower besides Ratcliffe.
Edward Price, the former senior director of the National Security Council under Obama and a former CIA analyst, told Business Insider Ratcliffe's appointment could lead to "reticence and even paralysis" on the part of the intel community when it comes to some of the most consequential national security questions.
If Ratcliffe is confirmed, he'll have the authority to automatically declassify sensitive intelligence relating to any number of government inquiries, including the Russia probe. That notion could "send a chill throughout the personnel ranks and among all of those who might otherwise work for the US government against shared threats," Price said.
"His presence at the helm of the community would be a constant reminder that analysts, operators, and anyone else who comes into contact with our nation's most sensitive operations could one day find themselves on the wrong side of a politicized feud," he added.