Trump stalls confirmation process of his own national intelligence nominee

By — Amna Nawaz Amna Nawaz By — Kyle Midura Kyle Midura Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/trump-stalls-confirmation-process-of-his-own-national-intelligence-nominee Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio There was confusion in Congress after President Trump announced that his pick for director of national intelligence would not show up for his scheduled confirmation hearing. The Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner, said he doesn't know whether Clayton's nomination has been postponed or withdrawn. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Andrew Desiderio of Punchbowl News. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Amna Nawaz: There was confusion in Congress today after President Trump announced this morning that his pick for director of national intelligence would not show up for his scheduled confirmation hearing this afternoon. Early today, the president posted -- quote -- "Regarding the approval of our great patriot Jay Clayton, we are canceling the Senate hearing re: DNI today and will not be going forward." Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton first responded online, saying the hearing would go on. Two hours later, he said it would be postponed, calling the president's move regrettable. Meanwhile, the committee's top Democrat, Senator Mark Warner, said he doesn't know whether Clayton's nomination has been postponed or withdrawn. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA): I wonder whether Jay Clayton knows whether he has been postponed or withdrawn. And, again, that is a level of chaos, incompetence. When we're talking about our national security, when we're talking about adversaries around the world, what signals does this send? Amna Nawaz: Senators were hoping for a swift confirmation so they could move forward with a bipartisan deal to reauthorize the powerful FISA surveillance law. To break it all down, I'm joined by Andrew Desiderio of Punchbowl News. Andrew, welcome back. Thanks for being here. Andrew Desiderio, Punchbowl News: Thank you. Amna Nawaz: Let's unravel this a little bit. Jay Clayton is Trump's DNI pick because there were so many concerns about the acting DNI, Bill Pulte, who has no intelligence background. Democrats said they would not renew this surveillance law with Pulte in charge. Clayton seemed to be moving along. So, what happened? Andrew Desiderio: Well, Jay Clayton was on track to be confirmed as soon as tomorrow. That is a rapid time frame for Senate confirmation for such an important position. This is a Cabinet-level position as well. So it would have been one week from nomination to confirmation. But Democrats were willing to give consent to speed up that process because they have been so concerned about Bill Pulte, who, as you mentioned, has no intelligence or national security experience, taking over that role in acting capa