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MaddowBlog-Why Trump trashed his own party's plan to confirm his choice for intelligence director
Why Trump trashed his own party’s plan to confirm his choice for intelligence director
Senate Republicans were all set to advance Trump’s choice for DNI — right up until Trump decided to scrap their plans.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-06-17T13:05:41.621Z
He boasted about his willingness to add a “bit of intrigue†to the process, but “incoherence†would’ve been a better choice of words.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/why-trump-trashed-his-own-partys-plan-to-confirm-his-choice-for-intelligence-director
But Trump appears eager to keep expanding his portfolio: Now, he seems to be playing the role of Senate majority leader, as well. The Associated Press reported early Wednesday morning:
Even for him, this was weird. Senate GOP leaders were so determined to quickly approve Trump’s own handpicked choice for director of national intelligence that they scheduled a confirmation hearing for midday Wednesday, in the hope that Clayton might even be confirmed as early as Thursday of this week....
The president’s 258-word online statement was rather bizarre — at one point, it accused Senate Democrats of breaking a deal that never existed — though it did offer some insights into the three things Trump wants (at least for now).
First, he wants to attack the Senate’s “blue slip” process, which empowers senators on the Judiciary Committee to block indefinitely some judicial and prosecutorial nominees to their home states. Trump has railed against the rule for a while now — he expects the Senate to give him power, while weakening itself — and he’s apparently now concerned that if the process remains intact, he might not get James McDonald (the president’s former personal lawyer) confirmed as Clayton’s successor to lead the prosecutor’s office for the Southern District of New York.
Second, he wants the Senate to approve an extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was designed to allow for warrantless wiretaps of non-U.S. citizens, but only if it’s tied to his beloved SAVE Act, which would make it harder for Americans to vote and impose new restrictions on transgender Americans.
This would require 60 votes — by all accounts, it doesn’t even have 50 — but Trump appears willing to paralyze Congress unless lawmakers agree to pass his far-right proposal, even if undermines his own administration’s national security goals.
And third, the president really seems to want Pulte, the highly controversial director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to take the reins as the acting DNI. An expedited confirmation of Clayton would prevent Pulte, a Trump loyalist and partisan hatchet man, from taking office, and the president apparently sees that as unacceptable. (Trump recently declared that he expects Pulte to use his new office to perhaps “find out some things about the rigged elections,” reinforcing obvious concerns about Pulte playing the role of a partisan weapon in pursuit of Trump’s conspiracy theories.)
So where does that leave us? FISA’s deadline has come and gone, due entirely to Trump’s misguided antics; Pulte is poised to temporarily succeed Tulsi Gabbard, despite bipartisan concerns about how spectacularly ill-suited he is for the job; Clayton’s nomination is suddenly on ice for an undetermined period; and the president’s anti-voting and anti-trans bill still has no realistic chance of success.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he’s delaying Jay Clayton’s nomination to lead the U.S. intelligence community in a bid to force Congress to act on a voter ID bill that currently lacks enough support for passage.
Trump said in a lengthy post on his social media site that he will keep Bill Pulte, a top U.S. housing official, as acting director of national intelligence.
Even for him, this was weird. Senate GOP leaders were so determined to quickly approve Trump’s own handpicked choice for director of national intelligence that they scheduled a confirmation hearing for midday Wednesday, in the hope that Clayton might even be confirmed as early as Thursday of this week....
The president’s 258-word online statement was rather bizarre — at one point, it accused Senate Democrats of breaking a deal that never existed — though it did offer some insights into the three things Trump wants (at least for now).
First, he wants to attack the Senate’s “blue slip” process, which empowers senators on the Judiciary Committee to block indefinitely some judicial and prosecutorial nominees to their home states. Trump has railed against the rule for a while now — he expects the Senate to give him power, while weakening itself — and he’s apparently now concerned that if the process remains intact, he might not get James McDonald (the president’s former personal lawyer) confirmed as Clayton’s successor to lead the prosecutor’s office for the Southern District of New York.
Second, he wants the Senate to approve an extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was designed to allow for warrantless wiretaps of non-U.S. citizens, but only if it’s tied to his beloved SAVE Act, which would make it harder for Americans to vote and impose new restrictions on transgender Americans.
This would require 60 votes — by all accounts, it doesn’t even have 50 — but Trump appears willing to paralyze Congress unless lawmakers agree to pass his far-right proposal, even if undermines his own administration’s national security goals.
And third, the president really seems to want Pulte, the highly controversial director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to take the reins as the acting DNI. An expedited confirmation of Clayton would prevent Pulte, a Trump loyalist and partisan hatchet man, from taking office, and the president apparently sees that as unacceptable. (Trump recently declared that he expects Pulte to use his new office to perhaps “find out some things about the rigged elections,” reinforcing obvious concerns about Pulte playing the role of a partisan weapon in pursuit of Trump’s conspiracy theories.)
So where does that leave us? FISA’s deadline has come and gone, due entirely to Trump’s misguided antics; Pulte is poised to temporarily succeed Tulsi Gabbard, despite bipartisan concerns about how spectacularly ill-suited he is for the job; Clayton’s nomination is suddenly on ice for an undetermined period; and the president’s anti-voting and anti-trans bill still has no realistic chance of success.