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Washington — The Senate Intelligence Committee advanced Jay Clayton’s nomination for director of national intelligence on Tuesday, despite opposition from Democrats following his confirmation hearing earlier this month.
In a 9 to 8 vote, the committee voted along party lines to advance Clayton’s nomination to the floor, GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the committee chairman, announced Tuesday.
“Jay Clayton is a highly qualified nominee with a deep experience combatting a wide range of national security threats,” Cotton said in a statement. “I’m pleased that the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to advance his nomination to be Director of National Intelligence.”
President Trump nominated Clayton, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, last month. And although some Democrats had initially praised the nomination, which came as a more controversial pick was set to take over the agency as acting director of national intelligence, their support appeared to wane following Clayton’s confirmation hearing.
At the hearing, Democrats repeatedly asked Clayton about the results of the 2020 election. And although he acknowledged that former President Joe Biden was certified as president and said he is “not an election denier,” Clayton evaded questions about who won the 2020 contest.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the committee’s vice chairman who had initially said he hoped to get Clayton confirmed “as quickly as possible,” said Sunday that he would vote against Clayton’s nomination.
“I’ve known Jay for a long time. I like Jay. I worked well with him when he was at the SEC. But I was bitterly disappointed by his performance in front of my committee,” Warner said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
But Democrats have also acknowledged the difficult position they’re in, with former housing official Bill Pulte serving as the acting intelligence chief since Tulsi Gabbard’s departure last month.
Pulte has no national security background and came to prominence after accusing several of the president’s political foes of mortgage fraud. Mr. Trump’s selection of him prompted Democrats to walk away from a deal to reauthorize a warrantless surveillance authority known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It expired on June 12.
Shortly before the expiration, the president announced that he was nominating Clayton as director of national intelligence. And Senate Republicans moved to quickly confirm him to break the logjam on the surveillance program. But days later, Mr. Trump abruptly pushed the Senate to cancel plans to move forward with Clayton’s nomination when it became clear that it could prevent Pulte from temporarily taking the helm.
Despite Democrats’ opposition on the committee, Clayton is expected to be confirmed given the Republican majority in the Senate. Warner said with Pulte currently in the role, “we’re a little rock-in-a-hard-place here,” though he acknowledged that Clayton “will probably get confirmed.” The Virginia Democrat added, “I hope we see the Jay Clayton that I have known and have worked with.”
“The one thing I also know is, the absolute disaster we have right now with the acting DNI, Bill Pulte, who has no intelligence experience, who has nothing but loyalty to Trump,” Warner said.