Jay Clayton confirmation hearing planned for mid-July
EXCLUSIVE — The Senate Intelligence Committee is tentatively planning a July 15 confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, the stalled nominee for director of national intelligence, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
President Donald Trump teased Wednesday morning that a new date had been chosen by Senate Republicans, telling reporters that his interim director, Bill Pulte, would be there no longer than a month or two.
“Jay is going through the process,” Trump said. “He’s got a hearing in two weeks.”
The president derailed a prior date for Clayton to testify before the intelligence panel before the July 4 recess, frustrating Senate GOP plans to renew a key spy program that Democrats were linking to his confirmation. That program, which allows foreign surveillance without a warrant, has been expired for almost three weeks, but getting Clayton in place is expected to end the impasse. Democrats have refused to give their votes until Pulte, viewed as a Trump loyalist, is removed from the job.
The White House declined to comment on Clayton’s confirmation timeline when asked about the new date, but Trump appears satisfied by Pulte’s brief tenure. He has already begun to fire some intelligence officials, one of the president’s objectives, and Trump said Wednesday that he’s given Pulte wide latitude to “declassify whatever you want.”
Before taking over the role of intelligence chief from Tulsi Gabbard, Pulte raised allegations he was “weaponizing” his position in government by launching mortgage fraud investigations into prominent Democrats. Pulte also serves as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Clayton, by contrast, has cross-over appeal among Democrats and is expected to be confirmed without issue. Clayton currently serves as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Originally, Trump said he wanted Clayton’s successor in place before he is confirmed for the intelligence post. The president also vented over the lack of progress on his signature election bill, the SAVE America Act, when he derailed the original confirmation hearing and has threatened not to sign the spy program renewal unless it’s attached.