Senate committee advances nomination of Trump intelligence pick Jay Clayton

Committee voted 9-8 to advance Clayton’s nomination to serve as intelligence chief despite Democratic opposition

The Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday advanced the nomination of Jay Clayton to serve as the US intelligence director, despite criticism from Democrats.

Donald Trump had nominated Clayton, now the top federal prosecutor in the southern district of New York, for the role of the director of national intelligence (DNI) last month after the departure of Tulsi Gabbard.

Intelligence committee members questioned Clayton at a hearing last week, and its Republican chair, Tom Cotton, announced that it had reported his nomination favorably by a 9-8 vote, teeing him up for a future vote on his confirmation by the full Senate.

“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,” he added.

Cotton did not provide a breakdown of how lawmakers voted. The committee is composed of nine Republicans and eight Democrats, and Mark Warner, a spokesperson for the Democratic vice-chair, said he had opposed the nomination.

Democratic senator Ron Wyden released a statement announcing his no vote, accusing Clayton of “spreading conspiracies” about mail-in voting and denying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

“From start to finish, Mr Clayton has proven himself incapable of telling the truth or demonstrating an iota of independence from Donald Trump,” Wyden said.

At his hearing last week, members of the Democratic minority criticized Clayton, a former Wall Street attorney who served as the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for previous statements he made echoing Trump’s claim that US elections have been marred by fraud. They also aired concerns about politicization at the office of the DNI, which serves to coordinate the nation’s intelligence agencies.

It is unclear when his nomination will be voted on by the Senate. If confirmed, he would take over from Bill Pulte, a federal housing official who Trump appointed as acting DNI following Gabbard’s departure.

Democrats strenuously objected to Pulte’s installation in that office, decrying him as a loyalist to the president who may try to use its powers to retaliate against his enemies.

As director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency director, Pulte had last year referred several Democratic officeholders as well as the Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook for mortgage fraud. His predecessor, Gabbard, had raised similar concerns when she appeared alongside FBI agents who raided an election office in Georgia earlier this year. Administration officials later said she was running her own investigation of the 2020 election.

Clayton’s confirmation may nonetheless clear a path for Congress to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), a key spy tool that had its legal authorization expire last month in part due to a blockade by Democrats incensed by Trump’s appointment of Pulte.

Since taking over as acting DNI, Pulte has reportedly fired dozens of staffers from the office. In his statement, Cotton signaled support for those purges, saying he looked forward to working with Clayton to “continue reforming the Office of Director of National Intelligence”.