By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON, July 27 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Monday advanced the nomination of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick to be the top U.S. spy, and he is expected to be approved within days despite a tense confirmation hearing.
If approved to be the director of national intelligence, Clayton would fill a role vacated in June when Tulsi Gabbard stepped down after a tenure marked by clashes with congressional Democrats, who accused her of advancing Trump’s political agenda and promoting debunked election claims.
The vote was 51-43 in favor of advancing Clayton’s nomination for the job overseeing the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies. The vote was along party lines, with Trump’s Republicans backing his nominee and members of the Democratic caucus voting no.
The position of DNI was created after the September 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate the country’s sprawling intelligence apparatus. Many senators have been eager for Clayton to take up the post because they are unhappy with the interim director of national intelligence, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist without national security experience who has been cutting staff at the agency.
Now that Clayton won a majority in the 100-member Senate on the procedural vote, a final confirmation vote is expected later in the week. Trump’s Republicans, who have a 53-47 majority in the chamber and rarely break from the White House, had been expected to provide Clayton with enough votes for confirmation even if Democrats balked.
CONTROVERSY
The Senate Intelligence Committee recommended Clayton to the full Senate in a narrow 9-8 vote last week.
He received yes votes only from the panel’s Republicans after repeatedly refusing to directly acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election despite repeated questioning during his confirmation hearing.
Clayton also faced questioning from Democrats about his decision to issue subpoenas ordering New York Times journalists to testify before a federal grand jury after reporting on security concerns involving Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One plane.
A prosecutor said at a court hearing last week that the Trump administration would withdraw the subpoenas after a judge’s close questioning about the investigation.
“From start to finish, Mr. Clayton has proven himself incapable of telling the truth or demonstrating an iota of independence from Donald Trump. For those reasons, I voted ‘no’ on his nomination,” Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, called Clayton a proven leader in remarks urging support for the nomination. “Amid a heightened threat environment, having a proven leader as the director of national intelligence is especially important, and Jay Clayton fits the mold,” Thune said.
Clayton’s confirmation process was dogged by controversy even before his July 15 hearing. In mid-June, Trump abruptly threw doubt on his nomination by ordering the postponement of the hearing in an effort to force Congress to pass an overhaul of U.S. voting rules.
Senators, including Cotton, said at the time they expected the hearing to go ahead as scheduled, but then said Clayton would not appear after Trump ordered him to stay away.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Don Durfee, Paul Simao and Nia Williams)
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