Trump Ignites Trouble in Senate Intelligence Negotiations, Pulling Nomination of Jay Clayton To Be America’s Spy Chief

Senate Republicans are deeply displeased with President Trump after he made the decision to yank Jay Clayton’s nomination to serve as Director of National Intelligence. Less than 12 hours before Mr. Clayton was going to sit for his confirmation hearing, Mr. Trump said he was pulling the plug, imperiling bipartisan negotiations around a reauthorization for America’s warrantless spying powers. Mr. Clayton, who has served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for more than a year, was welcomed by Democrats as a reasonable choice to be the new Director of National Intelligence. Mr. Trump apparently smelled an opportunity to exert leverage, choosing on Wednesday to keep Mr. Clayton at Manhattan as he tries to wring concessions from lawmakers. The president now says he will only put up Mr. Clayton for the DNI nomination if Democrats agree to reauthorize FISA Section 702 — the law which allows the government to spy on foreigners without a warrant — with the SAVE America Act attached. That bill would require both proof of citizenship and the presentation of a photo ID before voting. “[T]o add a slight bit of intrigue … I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate [confirmation] Hearing … and will not be moving forward until” Mr. Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, is confirmed. “In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence,” Mr. Trump announced early Wednesday morning. Despite the president’s threats, Republicans tried to forge ahead with Mr. Clayton’s confirmation hearing, which was supposed to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday. “We will proceed with his hearing as scheduled unless the president directs him not to appear or withdraws his nomination,” the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Tom Cotton, wrote on X Wednesday morning. Hours later, Mr. Cotton apparently got word that the president had, in fact, told Mr. Clayton not to show. “It’s regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear,” Mr. Cotton announced before the hearing was set to begin. “Mr. Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president has said repeatedly.”“I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future,” Mr. Cotton said. Senator Thom Tillis was also clearly frustrated, saying that Mr. Trump is now making a “colossal mistake” by endangering the reauthorization of Section 702. Though the program technically lapsed last week, intelligence officials are continuing to use the spy powers pending refusals to comply for telecommunications firms and tech companies. “If somebody told the president exactly how Jay Clayton got the permanent position for U.S. attorney and exactly what this was likely to do to 702 reauthorization and he did it anyway, he made a colossal mistake,” Mr. Tillis told reporters Wednesday. The majority leader, Senator John Thune, has been saying all week that he wanted Mr. Clayton confirmed by Friday, which is when Mr. Pulte is scheduled to be sworn in as the acting DNI. Several Republicans were also looking forward to keeping Mr. Pulte out of the position by confirming Mr. Clayton swiftly. On Wednesday, it was clear that Mr. Thune was caught off guard by the president’s decision to abruptly pull the nomination. “We’ll just have to take it a day at a time,” Mr. Thune told reporters. Democrats, meanwhile, say they have no interest in helping Republicans manage the president. The minority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer, says Democrats will never go along with passing the SAVE America Act, which would require 60 votes. Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Wednesday, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner, lambasted the decision to pull the Clayton nomination. Mr. Warner said himself over the weekend that he hoped Mr. Clayton could be confirmed before Friday. “I literally thought I had gotten to the point where the Trump administration couldn’t surprise me anymore,” Mr. Warner told reporters. “What we’re witnessing today is an extraordinary display of dysfunction from a president who seems determined to turn America’s national security into a political bargaining chip.”“This is not Senate Democrats versus Senate Republicans. This is a careless White House, a president that is treating our national security with complete disdain,” Mr. Warner said.

Trump Ignites Trouble in Senate Intelligence Negotiations, Pulling Nomination of Jay Clayton To Be America’s Spy Chief

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