Trump’s Surprise DNI Announcement Leaves Senate Republicans Reeling

President Donald Trump torched the Senate’s chances of expeditiously confirming Jay Clayton to become the next director of national intelligence on Wednesday, effectively grinding the chamber to a halt as members try to pick up the pieces following the presidential blockade.

Senate Republicans had been confident they would be able to quickly confirm Clayton’s nomination this week. That move would have killed two birds with one stone — denying Bill Pulte from becoming acting DNI on Friday and potentially allowing them to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Those hopes were dashed in the wee hours of Wednesday morning with the president tying both items to unmovable business, leaving members fuming.

“There’s some frustration,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of the mood of the conference after members convened for lunch. “702 is going to stay dark, and that’s a danger to the country during the World Cup. We have a lot of people here from around the world, and where we’ve got regimes like the Iranian regime mad at us.”

“We’ve basically blinded our intelligence community,” Cornyn said, noting that 60% of the president’s daily brief, a summary of current national security threats, emanates from intelligence gathered via the spy powers.

Both Democrats and Republicans raised concerns about Pulte’s credentials for the acting DNI post, and there appeared to be bipartisan support to confirm Clayton as soon as this week.

Republicans have grown increasingly bothered by recent maneuvers from Trump, with a number of them coming at inopportune times. Those continued with Wednesday’s social media post that came just hours before Clayton was set to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the afternoon.

Initially, Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) indicated the committee would proceed, but then hours later he announced that Clayton would no longer appear and the hearing was canceled, calling the development “regrettable.”

Adding to the tumult was Trump’s demand to also tie the nomination and the FISA reauthorization to both the confirmation of James McDonald, a former member of his legal team who would backfill Clayton as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the SAVE America voting bill, respectively.

Neither item appears to be going anywhere quickly. The voting measure has no path in the chamber, as it cannot clear the 60-vote threshold and not enough Republicans are behind scrapping the hurdle to enact the “talking” filibuster.

McDonald also is subject to the “blue slip” procedure which gives Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) the ability to hold up his confirmation as home-state lawmakers. Members are not banking on them giving him the green light.

“I don’t expect any cooperation,” Cornyn said about that possibility.

This is leaving Senate Republican leaders with no obvious solution on how to get Clayton and the FISA reauthorization cleared.

“I’m not sure I know the answer to that just yet, but we’ll take it a day at a time,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters about next steps.

The expedited effort to cement Clayton as DNI was a reaction to Pulte in line to fill the acting role on Friday.

Democrats initially blocked reauthorization of FISA’s Section 702 over their concerns with Pulte, who has no intelligence experience and has garnered criticism from lawmakers in both parties.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) told reporters on Wednesday that the president’s move is “another kink in the slinky that makes no sense,” adding that Trump is complicating Congress’ ability to enact his own agenda.

“We are not the manufacturing department of the Article II branch, we are the board of directors for the Article II branch.” Tillis said. “You start treating us like that, coordinating with us like that, we won’t have these embarrassing setbacks.”

Tillis said that FISA is essential and could pose a significant national security challenge in the midst of a series of high-profile events this summer, blaming the president’s decision on poor advice.

“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,” Tillis continued.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also indicated this episode demonstrated that the president is not working effectively with the conference. When asked if Senate Republicans and Trump are on the same page, Murkowski told reporters, “He’s turning it ahead without telling us about it.”

Wednesday’s development follows a number of others from the White House that have roiled the conference, including an ill-timed endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Cornyn, a popular member, and the announcement of Pulte, which jeopardized the FISA renewal.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), a proponent of the SAVE America Act, told reporters on Wednesday that the president is simply doing what he does best: pushing his priorities through Congress. Though Senate Republicans might have been caught off guard, Kennedy said that Trump is simply trying to pass the legislation by attaching it to a must-pass bill.

“I just think the president is a salesman, and here’s what a salesman do: they sell,” Kennedy said. “He’s a promoter. What do promoters do? They promote. He’s got two speeds: uninterested and the speed of light.”

Beyond causing frustration within the Republican conference, the president’s surprise announcement makes the path forward on both FISA and Clayton’s nomination murky. Senate Democrats are calling on Republicans to work with them to choose a new nominee in exchange for lifting their hold on Section 702.

“Every time Republicans are searching for a path forward, Trump slams the door shut,” Schumer said. “He pulled the rug out from under his Republicans, who were trying to find that path forward.”

“What shambles, what an embarrassment,” he added.