WASHINGTON--U.S. President Donald Trump threw doubt on Wednesday on the confirmation of his nominee to become the nation's top spy, Jay Clayton, ordering its abrupt postponement in an effort to force Congress to pass a strict voter identification bill.
Republicans who have been pushing for rapid Senate approval of Clayton, the top U.S. attorney for Manhattan, to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI) had said his confirmation hearing would go ahead as scheduled, until Trump ordered him not to appear.
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, later said the hearing would be postponed but he looked forward to proceeding with the nomination in the near future. "It’s regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today. Mr. Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president has said repeatedly," Cotton said on X.
Two people familiar with the matter said Trump's social media post announcing the delay caught officials in the upper echelons of the intelligence community off guard, forcing them to scramble for information on whether Clayton was still set to appear as nominee in front of Congress. Trump's post appeared on social media hours before dawn in Washington.
Trump nominated Clayton less than a week ago to lead the nation's 18 intelligence agencies, amid a political backlash over the loyalist he picked to fill the role temporarily. That close ally, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, has no national security experience, raising concerns even among some Republicans that he would "weaponize" intelligence against Trump's perceived political foes.
Trump then nominated James McDonald, one of his personal lawyers, to replace Clayton as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. McDonald needs Senate approval for that role.
Trump, in France for a Group of Seven summit, said Pulte would remain as acting DNI, adding that his fellow Republicans "fell into a trap" when they agreed with Democrats to remove Pulte as acting spy chief in return for the approval of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows law enforcement to collect foreign intelligence that can include information about Americans without judicial authorization. Trump's action also cast doubt on hopes for a bipartisan agreement for the renewal of Section 702, seen as a crucial national security tool.
"However, the Republicans moved so fast with the hearings of the Great Jay Clayton ... that Pulte would be gone before the (Democrats) would vote on FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)," Trump said.
Trump said he would not approve the FISA renewal without passage of his SAVE America Act. The SAVE Act would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote, a provision critics say would strip millions of Americans of their right to vote.
Trump has said the act would deliver his Republicans a "guaranteed" win in November's midterm elections. With Trump's approval rating dropping, opinion polls show Republicans will struggle to keep their slim control of Congress.
