President Trump has nominated Jay Clayton, the former chairman of the SEC, to serve as director of national intelligence. It follows a pick for acting director that caused an uproar on Capitol Hill.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
President Trump has named Jay Clayton to serve as the next director of national intelligence. Clayton is a federal prosecutor who has taken on national security cases. He also previously led the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a few minutes, we’ll hear from Senator Chris Coons of Delaware about Clayton’s prospects in the Senate. We start with more on Clayton’s background.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR Congress reporter Eric McDaniel is here in the studio to talk us through this here in Studio 31. Eric, thanks for coming by once again.
ERIC MCDANIEL, BYLINE: Happy to.
INSKEEP: You’re getting to be a regular here. Appreciate that. Tell us more about Jay Clayton.
MCDANIEL: Well, in addition to being a federal prosecutor, like you mentioned, and former SEC head, Clayton was an accomplished attorney in the private sector. He currently serves as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and while there, his office has done a couple high-profile things, not least of which is the indictment of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Clayton has been confirmed by the Senate before for the SEC, which is a good sign for his ability to be confirmed again. Not to mention his nomination follows up a pick last week by President Trump for an acting DNI – a different guy – that went over like a lead balloon in the Capitol.
INSKEEP: As this is happening, I’m thinking of the nominations for attorney general at the start of the administration. Matt Gaetz was the nominee. Congress was horrified. Trump countered with Pam Bondi. Are you saying in the same way that Jay Clayton looks better by comparison?
MCDANIEL: I mean, members of Congress are making the comparison that Clayton seems more qualified, including top Democrats on the intelligence committees. Last week, the president named Bill Pulte to replace the current director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, on this temporary basis. Pulte’s the current director of a federal housing finance agency, but he’s best known as the guy who’s used mortgage documents to allege that the president’s perceived foes have committed fraud. All of them deny wrongdoing.
INSKEEP: We heard Senator Mark Warner on NPR saying that Pulte was the kind of person who would weaponize intelligence agencies against the public, really.
MCDANIEL: Right. In fact, it led Democrats like Warner to block the extension of a big-deal spy tool – Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. According to its parents, it allows the government to collect electronic communications of foreign nationals located outside of the U.S. each year. Think calls, texts, emails. And it’s lapsing today in large part because of how mad folks were about the president naming Pulte in this acting capacity. And now with the House on recess for a week, things aren’t moving quickly to bring it back.
INSKEEP: So it would be a while before Jay Clayton is confirmed, which means he can’t do the job. Does that mean Bill Pulte, this person lawmakers objected to, will be the acting director for a while?
MCDANIEL: You know, it was unclear for a few hours, but President Trump actually addressed it in the Oval Office yesterday afternoon. He said Pulte would still be there for, quote, “a short while,” although he didn’t say how long. It probably depends on that confirmation timeline.
INSKEEP: OK. Let’s get back to this surveillance tool, this law. How big a deal is it that it’s lapsing for the moment?
MCDANIEL: Symbolically, it’s a huge deal, but practically, probably not a huge deal. It’s bad symbolically because it shows the president is making decisions in a way that make Congress’ job really hard. There’s no reason he had to announce Pulte as the acting director of national intelligence when he did. He could’ve waited until this was renewed. He stepped on a rake for no reason, and it ultimately led to FISA expiring. Practically, though, FISA can still be used for many months under existing court authorization. So unless telecom companies stop providing electronic communications to the government, which I think is unlikely but not totally impossible, the government will still be able to use it without issue to keep track of big threats, like to the World Cup or America’s 250th celebrations.
INSKEEP: So what’s the timeline, then, for Clayton to get permanently confirmed and for this to be resolved?
MCDANIEL: It’s coming up quick – next Wednesday. They named the date almost immediately after his nomination.
INSKEEP: OK. Congress reporter Eric McDaniel, thanks so much.
MCDANIEL: Thanks so much.
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