US National Intelligence director Dan Coats was stunned when he heard the news that US President Donald Trump wants Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit the White House this fall, raising tensions between Coats and the White House.

At the Aspen Security Forum, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell broke the news to Coats that the White House invited Putin to Washington in the fall. 

“We have some breaking news, the White House has announced on Twitter that Vladimir Putin is coming to the White House in the fall,” Mitchell said.

“Say that again?” Coats replied, before laughing.

“Did I hear you right?” he jokingly asked. “OK, that’s gonna be special.”

Coats also expressed his concern over the Putin-Trump meeting in Helsinki during the interview. He said he does not know what was discussed in the lengthy one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin at the Helsinki summit. 

White House officials were in an "uproar" over the Coats interview, saying in Coats appeared to be "laughing at the President," MSNBC cited the Washington Post.

White House political aides told the Post that Coats went “rogue” in the interview and didn’t understand the role of intelligence, Mitchell tweeted.