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Senate to Hold Hearing for Intel Pick 07/15 06:15
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump's pick to head the
nation's intelligence agencies, will testify before the Senate Intelligence
Committee on Wednesday, weeks after Trump abruptly delayed his nomination.
Republicans and even some Democrats have been eager to quickly confirm
Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former
Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, as they have expressed concerns
about Trump's interim appointee for the intelligence post, Bill Pulte. Pulte,
who has been in the job since June 19, is a former housing official with no
known intelligence experience and who used his previous administration perch to
target perceived adversaries of the president.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., expressed
frustration when Trump delayed Clayton's nomination in a social media post last
month, allowing Pulte to take office. Cotton said then that Clayton had been
instructed not to appear at a scheduled confirmation hearing, but he
rescheduled the hearing three weeks later, with apparent approval from the
White House.
"Mr. Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president
has said repeatedly," Cotton said.
While Clayton has received some bipartisan praise, Democrats are expected to
aggressively question him on how he would approach the issue of election
interference, especially as Trump has said he will deliver a primetime address
on Thursday with a focus on elections, suggesting he could revisit
long-debunked conspiracy theories about his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.
"Trump made it clear that he expects whomever is Director of National
Intelligence to promote his baseless election conspiracy theories," said Oregon
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democratic member of the intelligence panel, after the
nomination was delayed last month.
Some Democrats praise Clayton, but bipartisan support is uncertain
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the panel's top Democrat on the Senate
Intelligence Committee, said in June that he has "known and respected Jay
Clayton for many years and believe he is a capable public servant." But he has
stopped short of saying he would vote for him.
Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House intelligence
panel, said he worked with Clayton when he was chairman of the Securities and
Exchange Commission, and "during that time, he had the independence of mind and
respect for the law that are necessary for any Director of National
Intelligence," Himes said.
Still, most Democrats are expected to vote against his nomination. Sen.
Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday that he expects to oppose Clayton,
but he and other Democrats may not object if majority Republicans want to try
and speed up his confirmation so that he can replace Pulte.
"I'm not going to vote for him," Blumenthal said. "But I wouldn't object to
an accelerated vote."
As US attorney in Manhattan, Clayton oversees vast portfolio
Clayton is currently the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New
York, the most prestigious of the Justice Department's prosecution offices. His
cases have ranged from terrorism and espionage cases to security fraud and
public corruption.
Democrats are certain to press Clayton on his role in recent subpoenas of
four New York Times journalists after they reported on security concerns
involving the new, Qatari-gifted Air Force One. The Committee to Protect
Journalists has called the subpoenas "an extraordinary escalation in President
Trump's efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations and
have a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country."
Under Clayton, the office also 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
Nicols Maduro and Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, on drug trafficking charges.
Confirmation vote could unlock renewal of surveillance authority
Clayton's confirmation could potentially clear the way for bipartisan
legislation to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,
or FISA, which stalled last month when Democrats had said they would not
provide the necessary votes to pass the bill unless Pulte's temporary
appointment was withdrawn.
The law, which aims to prevent terrorist attacks by monitoring the
communications of targeted foreigners located outside the United States,
expired in June.
Even if Democrats relent, though, it is unclear if Trump would sign it. He
said in his June social media post delaying Clayton's nomination that he would
not sign the FISA renewal without his legislation to require proof of
citizenship for all voters -- which does not have enough votes to pass the
Senate.
Clearing Clayton's nomination "would be a good first step" in moving the
FISA renewal, said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, a member of the intelligence
panel.
Rounds said that Republicans hope to move Clayton's nomination quickly
through the process, if Democrats don't object.
"We're looking forward to getting him into that position as quickly as
possible," he said.
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