What’s really left to say? I could go on an on (and have) about why Jay Clayton is unfit to be director of National Intelligence, starting with the fact his appointment would arguably break the law, which requires the office holder have “extensive national security expertise.” (As a former SEC commissioner and briefly U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he does not.)
Then there was his demonstrated fear of offending President Trump by his repeated refusal to say simply in his confirmation hearing, “Joe Biden won the election”—a disturbing clue that he might not stand up to Trump in a global crisis, when he has intelligence contradicting the president’s infamous “gut” (which has been wrong on Iran again and again, according to agency leaks).
And there was Clayton’s hint that he could well follow the alarming path of Tulsi Gabbard down into messing with local election ballots. And his personal signature on search warrants aimed at uncovering the sources of New York Times journalists, who helpfully revealed the Secret Service’s grave concerns about the security of Trump’s tricked out Air Force One, a smelly gift from Qatar.
(Imagine the political catastrophe that would result from Iran or its helpmates shooting down the Qatari jet, which reportedly lacked missile defenses. The uproar over the Times report forced Trump to switch planes in Turkey and saved us from that.)
In any event, Republicans on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence evidently thought it more urgent to evict the MAGA bootlicker Bill Pulte from the ODNI than to delay on Clayton, much less find somebody actually qualified—and to secure renewal of the Section 702 surveillance law, which no one was going to vote for with Pulte causing a ruckus out at Liberty Crossing. In a 9 to 8 vote, the committee voted along party lines to advance Clayton’s nomination to the floor.
Barring some unexpected event, Clayton will be confirmed by the whole Senate, where the Republicans hold a 53-47 majority (counting Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has been absent for months).
God save us all.
