Jay Clayton won’t be sitting for his confirmation hearing today to be President Donald Trump’s permanent director of national intelligence, after Trump said in an early morning Truth Social post that he wants Clayton’s replacement confirmed as the top US attorney in Manhattan first.
The abrupt move is sure to rankle Senate Republicans, who moved quickly to schedule Clayton’s hearing to confirm him — and clear the way for passage of an extension of a key surveillance tool that lapsed as Democrats protested Trump’s pick of Bill Pulte for acting DNI.
It also guarantees that the surveillance law won’t be renewed anytime soon. Trump also reiterated his demand that Republicans’ voter ID bill, the SAVE America Act, be approved along with the surveillance law despite Senate Majority Leader John Thune saying that can’t happen.
Democrats hadn’t said much officially about accelerating Clayton’s nomination, but privately they signaled they were leaning toward moving him quickly to head off the possibility that Pulte becomes intelligence chief for even a second on Friday.
If Clayton makes it through his confirmation hearing without hiccups, there’s a “pretty good” chance he can be confirmed this week, said one Senate Democrat before Trump’s post canceling the confirmation hearing, because the caucus believes Pulte “is so reprehensible.”