WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was delaying federal prosecutor Jay Clayton’s nomination to lead the U.S. intelligence community in a bid to force Congress to act on a voter ID bill that currently lacks enough support for passage, but a key Republican senator vowed to push forward with a hearing anyway.
The dueling statements from Trump and Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, create uncertainty over the long-term leadership of the 18-agency intelligence community and dash hopes for a swift renewal of a crucial surveillance program that expired in Congress last week due to bipartisan anger over Trump’s pick of Bill Pulte, a top U.S. housing official, as acting director of national intelligence.
The tumult began early Wednesday, when Trump, in a social media post just hours before Clayton's scheduled confirmation hearing, said that he would keep Pulte as acting DNI. Democratic and Republican lawmakers had opposed Trump’s selection of Pulte, citing his lack of known experience in intelligence and his use of his current administration perch to target perceived adversaries of the president — resistance that last week forced Trump to turn to Clayton.
Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and Trump ally who does not generally challenge the president, responded by saying he would hold the hearing unless Trump orders Clayton not to appear or withdraws the nomination.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, called Trump’s post an “extraordinary display of dysfunction from a president who seems determined to turn America’s national security into a political bargaining chip.”
“The biggest obstacle to resolving these issues has not been Senate Democrats or Senate Republicans,” Warner said. “It has been the chaos and confusion coming from the White House itself.”
How a key surveillance program could be affected
Hanging in the balance is not only the identity of the nominee but also Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits spy agencies to collect without a warrant the communications of targeted foreigners located outside the United States.
National security officials across both major political parties have for years described Section 702 as vital for gathering intelligence that can disrupt terror attacks and espionage operations, though some lawmakers and civil liberties advocates have raised concerns over the government's use of information about Americans that is incidentally collected through the program.
Clayton had been set to appear on Wednesday afternoon for a Senate confirmation hearing that was fast-tracked because of the program's lapse. Democrats had said they would not renew the expired surveillance programs until Trump withdrew the selection of Pulte.
Trump's post suggested that debate to revive Section 702 could be indefinitely postponed. Lawmakers have sounded the alarm about the government operating without congressional authorization of the powerful spy tool.
A court order from last March certified that the program could continue for another 12 months, though it's possible that communications companies could challenge the government's authority to force them to cooperate and share data.
In his social media post, Trump accused Democrats of breaking a deal to renew the program after he nominated Clayton. Trump also said he does not want to remove Clayton from his current position as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York before his replacement, James McDonald, is approved. McDonald was named to the Justice Department post on Saturday.
And Trump added another condition by seeming to link his approval of the surveillance program to the passage of a bill requiring people to show ID to vote.
“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, using the acronym for the surveillance program and his name for the voter ID bill.
The Republican-controlled Congress has not acted on the voting bill because it does not have enough support in either chamber, particularly from Democrats.
Trump made the announcement in Evian-les-Bains, France, where he was participating in the final day of the Group of Seven summit of leading industrial economies.
The intelligence director position became available after Tulsi Gabbard, who had held the job, announced last month that she was resigning to spend time with her husband as he fights cancer.
Who is Clayton?
Clayton, a chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term, has spent the last 14 months as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, one of the Justice Department’s premier posts.
His office during that time facilitated the unsealing of thousands of pages of court records from the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, documents that were made public as part of the Justice Department’s release of records related to the late sex offender and his longtime confidant.
Clayton has also overseen the prosecution of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, on drug trafficking charges.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein but insists she's innocent. Maduro and his wife have protested their capture and said they're not guilty.
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Madhani reported from Evian-les-Bains, France. Superville reported from Geneva. AP writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
