Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Administrator Bill Pelt (left) and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Jay Clayton.
Getty Images | Reuters
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he is “cancelling” the confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, the attorney for the Southern District of New York, to become director of national intelligence.
It is unclear why President Trump is seeking to delay Creighton’s confirmation hearing, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. The president said in a social media post that he would review the list of complaints and adjourn the hearing hours before it was scheduled to begin. They included concerns that Bill Pulte, the president’s nominee to serve as acting DNI, would not be able to hold the job, and that Clayton’s replacement at SDNY had not yet been confirmed.
In an early morning post on Truth Social, President Trump said, “I have canceled today’s Senate hearing RE:DNI regarding the confirmation of our great patriot, Jay Clayton, and will not proceed until Jamie McDonald is confirmed as United States Attorney,” referring to Clayton’s potential successor. “In the meantime, Bill Pruitt will remain as Acting Director of National Intelligence.”
Any delay in Clayton’s confirmation could jeopardize the reauthorization of the critical intelligence agency, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This authority expired last week. That means the authority to conduct warrantless surveillance of communications that could pose a national security threat has expired.
Democrats have vowed not to reauthorize Mr. Pulte unless he is removed from his DNI position. Critics see Mr. Pulte as a partisan attack dog with no intelligence experience who used his role as head of the Federal Housing Administration to begin prosecuting Trump’s enemies.
Some Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns about Mr. Pulte and are now rushing to secure Mr. Creighton’s confirmation.
It is unclear whether President Trump’s social media posts will cause Clayton’s hearing, scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. ET, to be canceled. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said the committee intends to move forward.
“Jay Clayton is a pending nominee on the Intelligence Committee. Unless the President directs him not to appear or withdraws his nomination, we will proceed with his hearing as scheduled,” Cotton said in a post on X.
Trump also demanded that the controversial voter ID bill, the SAVE America Act, be attached to the FISA reauthorization in exchange for his signature, and accused Democrats of breaking their agreement to vote for FISA if Pulte is gone. Democrats said they would not support legislation that would change voting access.
“Republicans moved so quickly to get the current Southern District of New York attorney, Great Jay Clayton, confirmed that Mr. Pelt will be gone before Democrats vote on FISA,” he said. “Now Democrats are saying they will vote against FISA, which means Republicans have finally made good on their promise, but Democrats have broken the deal.”
This story is developing. Please check back for the latest information.
