President Trump announced the delay in a post on Truth Social just before 4 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, while he was attending the G7 Summit in France. The post came less than 12 hours before Clayton was scheduled to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“The president does not technically have the power to cancel a Senate hearing,” the Guardian reported, “though it appears Clayton will not appear.”
Trump wrote that Republicans had rushed the Clayton nomination so quickly that “Pulte would be gone before the Dumocrats would vote on FISA,” using a derogatory term for Democrats. He said the plan to quickly approve Clayton was part of a deal with Democrats to derail his previous temporary pick, Bill Pulte.
“Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, 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 wrote. “In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.”
Trump announced over the weekend that he was nominating James McDonald, one of his personal lawyers, for the post of U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the position Clayton would vacate. McDonald’s nomination is expected to face Democratic opposition.
Clayton currently serves as the top federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York. In that role, he has overseen high-profile cases including the indictment and arrest of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He was previously confirmed by the Senate to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term.
Lawmakers had aimed to have Clayton sworn in by June 19, the date Trump said Pulte would assume the acting director role on a temporary basis. The director of national intelligence oversees 18 intelligence agencies and advises the president on national security issues, including delivering the President’s Daily Brief.
Pulte, a former cheerleader for Trump’s pressure campaign to push then-Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to resign, has used his social media following to broadcast accusations that Trump’s perceived enemies committed mortgage fraud, according to NPR. Those accused include Federal Reserve official Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Sen. Adam Schiff, all of whom have denied wrongdoing.
The uproar over Pulte’s appointment as acting director contributed to the expiration June 12 of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a nearly two-decade-old law that allows the government to collect information without warrants from U.S. companies on foreigners overseas who use U.S. communication systems. The program also collects data on Americans who communicate with those foreigners.
Senators from both parties had said they would vote to reauthorize the law once Pulte was removed from his acting director post. Trump’s decision to pause Clayton’s nomination and keep Pulte in place is expected to reopen that fight.
Trump also tied FISA reauthorization to passage of the Save America Act, which would require Americans to provide documentary proof of citizenship to vote. On Fox News this week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the votes were not there for the bill.
“The only way you can get this done is to nuke the legislative filibuster,” Thune said. “And this is not something that we have anywhere close to the votes to do.”
Trump’s nominee would succeed Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month citing her husband’s cancer diagnosis. Gabbard was confirmed in a near-party line vote despite her lack of experience in U.S. intelligence and past remarks supporting autocratic leaders. During her tenure, Gabbard attended an FBI raid on a Georgia election office at the center of Trump’s baseless election fraud claims.
Clayton has echoed Trump’s questioning of election integrity. On CNBC on June 8, Clayton said of election integrity: “We’re doing an absolutely terrible job, and the American people are right to question it.” He said California’s mail-voting laws, which include sending ballots to all voters and a grace period for post-election arrivals, created an “opportunity for fraud.”
If confirmed, Clayton could continue Gabbard’s efforts to investigate cases of election interference that Trump has claimed cost him the 2020 election. During her tenure, Gabbard authorized the seizure of voting machines in Puerto Rico based on unsubstantiated allegations of rigging by Venezuela’s government, the Guardian reported. Clayton signed off on the indictment against Maduro in his role as U.S. attorney.
Some lawmakers in both parties had praised Clayton’s nomination. Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Clayton’s “temperament and deep commitment to public service will make him a terrific DNI.” Sen. Thom Tillis called Clayton an “outstanding choice.”
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said before Trump’s intervention that the only path to extending the surveillance law would be for Gabbard or her deputy to guide the agency until a permanent chief was confirmed.