NPR’s Leila Fadel speaks with Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware about President Trump’s new nominee to oversee the U.S. intelligence community.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Let’s hear now what Senator Chris Coons thinks of Trump’s new pick. The senator is a Democrat from Delaware who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee. Good morning, Senator, and thanks for being on the program.
CHRIS COONS: Good morning, Leila. Great to be on with you again.
FADEL: Do you believe Jay Clayton is qualified to be director of national intelligence?
COONS: Well, I voted against Jay Clayton to lead the SEC back in 2017, and I’m not convinced that he’s a better nominee to lead our nation’s intelligence apparatus, but he is certainly not as obviously awful as Bill Pulte. As your reporter was just correctly reporting, there was a bipartisan and strong and immediate pushback on having Bill Pulte have control of our nation’s 17 other intelligence agencies and be the person responsible for access to all of that information. I’ll keep an open mind about Jay Clayton. But what I’ve heard just in the last few days, as I’ve looked at news accounts of his recent public stances, is that he was very positive about President Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion weaponization fund, something that had bipartisan opposition that could be used to pay off folks like those rioters at the Capitol on January 6, since pardoned by Trump, who assaulted police officers.
FADEL: So your concern is over that and not his background in national security? ‘Cause he does have experience, right?
COONS: He lacks the sort of deep experience and background in intelligence that the statute says the director of national intelligence should have.
FADEL: Now, it doesn’t define what extensive national security expertise means. Clayton’s overseeing the prosecution of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and another case involving the commander of a militia backed by Iran. Does that meet the standard for you at all?
COONS: It doesn’t. I was hoping for and expecting the nomination of someone like the deputy director of national intelligence, someone who’s actually worked in the field for years, has had a security clearance for a long time, has been involved in intelligence collection and management. Look, this is another example of President Trump using every lever he has to go after perceived enemies and opponents and to advance people who’ve got that as their principal goal. Todd Blanche is also someone who’s just been nominated to be the attorney general, and his seeming principal qualification has been his willingness to go after the president’s enemies, rather than using the tools of the Department of Justice to protect and defend the American people.
FADEL: So you’ll vote against his confirmation?
COONS: I will keep an open mind. I don’t know everything about Jay Clayton. I did work well with him when he was head of the SEC, although I opposed his nomination. And I listened closely to what Senator Mark Warner says. He’s the ranking Democrat on intelligence. But it’s a pretty high bar for me to be willing to confirm him.
FADEL: Now, speaking of Senator Mark Warner, he says the administration needs to guarantee that Bill Pulte will not serve as acting DNI before he’d support an extension of the FISA intelligence authorization. And the administration seems to be saying – I mean, the president said he’ll be there for a short time. Do you see a way that Congress can reauthorize the part of FISA that sunsets today?
COONS: We can if someone other than Bill Pulte is acting DNI, or if someone else is confirmed as DNI. With the House out of session for a week, it won’t happen soon. But as your reporter correctly conveyed, it won’t have any significant impact on FISA operations in the next few weeks.
FADEL: I want to get to Iran before I let you go. The president called off another wave of strikes. He says the United States has achieved, quote, “a great settlement.” But we’ve heard him say a peace deal was close many, many times before. Is there any reason in your mind to think this time is different?
COONS: No. President Trump has changed the justifications for this war and repeatedly said a peace deal is going to happen tomorrow. It’s going to happen today. It’s not going to happen at all. I’m going to obliterate Iran. We’re going to destroy them. We’re going to bomb them. This really undermines President Trump’s credibility at home and abroad. And it concerns me deeply that he just doesn’t have a clear strategy for getting out of this terrible situation in Iran that he’s created.
FADEL: Do you have any sense that your Republican colleagues in the Senate and in the House would take steps to restrain further military action against Iran at this point?
COONS: Well, the House passed, with a bipartisan vote, a War Powers Act resolution, and it’s my hope that with one more Republican joining us in the Senate, we’ll do the same in the Senate.
FADEL: Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware. Thank you for your time.
COONS: Thank you, Leila.
FADEL: And a note that we have asked multiple Republican lawmakers to join us. Those invitations remain open.
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