Senate Intelligence Committee leaders won’t go ahead with Jay Clayton’s Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday afternoon to become director of national intelligence after President Donald Trump’s call for it to be scrapped.
Senate Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) posted on X it was “regrettable” that he had to cancel the hearing after Trump directed his DNI pick to skip the hearing.
“Mr. Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president has said repeatedly. While today’s hearing is now unfortunately postponed, I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future,” Cotton said.
The president’s announcement, made early Wednesday in a Truth Social post, further derailed plans for Congress to reauthorize a crucial surveillance program that lapsed last week. Lawmakers from both parties said they want a new DNI in place before extending the spy powers.
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Trump’s maneuver all but assures that Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, will serve as acting intelligence chief starting Friday. The Trump administration had nominated Clayton, who is serving as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to serve in the role after Democrats blocked plans to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act over Pulte’s appointment.
Pulte has no intelligence background and drew bipartisan criticism for his lack of experience. Senate Republicans had hoped to quickly confirm Clayton following his Wednesday hearing to gain Democratic support to reauthorize FISA and to avoid having Pulte in the interim intelligence post altogether.
But Trump sought to nix those goals by calling for the sudden cancellation of Clayton’s hearing, which the Senate Intelligence Committee had scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Typically, Cotton and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat, would control whether the hearing was canceled.
Warner said in a statement that Trump had injected “uncertainty” into the process to renew FISA, blaming the administration for using the program as a “bargaining chip.”
“National security cannot be governed by social media post,” Warner said. “The president’s latest intervention only underscores a simple reality: the biggest obstacle to resolving these issues has not been Senate Democrats or Senate Republicans. It has been the chaos and confusion coming from the White House itself.”
Trump also said in Wednesday’s post that he would not move Clayton from his federal prosecutor post until the Senate confirmed Trump’s pick to replace him, private practice lawyer Jamie McDonald.
“We are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney,” Trump said. “In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.”
The White House declined to comment on when Pulte would start as acting DNI and referred NOTUS to Trump’s post. Trump said in a press conference on Wednesday morning that Pulte is “very capable” and questioned Senate Democrats’ opposition to his appointment.
“Why are they afraid of this guy?” Trump said. “I mean, they’re so afraid of him, they’ll do anything not to have Pulte to go in there. He’s a very capable guy, and they’re worried about that.”
In his post, Trump expressed frustration over the expired surveillance program, which accounts for more than 60% of his daily briefing, according to the National Security Agency, and reiterated his call for Congress to pass a voter ID bill that many Republican lawmakers would like dropped.
“Therefore, to add a slight bit of intrigue but, for the Good of the Nation and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without the SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it,” Trump said.
Democrats in both chambers had previously blocked short-term extensions of the surveillance law, saying they would not vote to reauthorize the program if Pulte serves any time in the position. Lawmakers have been split on the consequences of the program going dark, though it is generally seen as essential to U.S. surveillance abroad.
This story was updated to include the cancellation of the hearing, response of committee leaders and the White House.
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