Trump Cancels Dni Hearings, Delays Jay Clayton Nomination
Donald Trump said he was cancelling the Senate hearing on Jay Clayton’s nomination as director of national intelligence early Wednesday, writing on Truth Social that “we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI Today.” The move slows trump cancels dni hearings and keeps the confirmation fight over the nation’s top intelligence post tied to Trump’s push on surveillance law.
Trump’s decision means Bill Pulte can stay in the acting role for at least several weeks until Clayton is confirmed. The director of national intelligence oversees 18 US spy agencies, so the delay leaves that office in temporary hands while the Senate process stops.
Trump and Jay Clayton
Trump had pushed the Senate to confirm Clayton after appointing Pulte as acting director sparked bipartisan pushback. Democrats and some Republicans said Pulte’s background as the chair of a federal mortgage regulation agency is insufficient to lead America’s intelligence community.
Clayton is not a newcomer to Trump’s orbit. He served as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term and made millions working as a Wall Street attorney in the decades before his 2017 SEC post.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
The stalled confirmation process also affected Trump’s push for renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Trump said Republicans had rushed Clayton’s nomination so quickly that “Pulte would be gone before the Dumocrats would vote on FISA”, and he said he did not want the surveillance act approved unless it included the Save America Act.
That fight sits on top of a recent vacancy at the top of the intelligence community. Tulsi Gabbard resigned late last month as director of national intelligence, opening the job that Clayton was meant to fill.
Bill Pulte stays in place
Pulte could become acting director as soon as this week, but Trump’s cancellation means he remains in place for now. For Senate Republicans, the practical effect is a pause in the confirmation track and a longer stretch with an acting official overseeing the intelligence office.
Clayton also had been publicly active on another issue that drew attention before the nomination fight. On 8 June, he said on CNBC, “We’re doing an absolutely terrible job, and the American people are right to question it,” while describing California’s mail-voting laws as an “opportunity for fraud.”
The immediate next step is the Senate’s handling of Clayton’s nomination, once it is brought back into motion. Until then, the acting role stays with Pulte, and Trump has tied the intelligence post to his broader fight over FISA and the Save America Act.
