Trump says intelligence chief pick’s hearing is off and Pulte will remain for now

ÉVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — President Donald Trump abruptly called off a confirmation hearing for his pick to lead the intelligence community on Wednesday, defying members of his own party who had quickly scheduled the session.

The Senate Intelligence Committee was only hours away from questioning Jay Clayton, a senior Justice Department attorney Trump nominated as director of national intelligence, when Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the hearing would be delayed.

Trump demanded that the Senate first confirm Jamie McDonald, tapped as Clayton’s replacement as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, for the Clayton confirmation process to proceed. He also said he would not reauthorize a critical spy tool unless the Senate passed new voting restrictions through a bill known as the Save America Act.

The delay will leave Bill Pulte — a mortgage regulation official and MAGA loyalist with no national security experience — as the acting intelligence director. Pulte is expected to take over for departing DNI Tulsi Gabbard, who has said she is leaving due to her husband’s cancer diagnosis, in the coming days.

Trump’s early morning post set off an extraordinary public collision with Senate Republicans. The president framed the GOP-led committee’s quick effort to confirm Clayton as a Democratic ruse and conditioned his support for the spy program on a bill that members of his party have signaled cannot pass.

Speaking with reporters later Wednesday, Trump called the hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee a “rush act by the Democrats” and called Pulte a “brilliant guy.”

Members of both parties have questioned Pulte’s credentials for the intelligence role. Democrats have worried that he would seek to weaponize the position against administration enemies given his efforts to pursue mortgage fraud investigations against Trump’s political foes as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

“Why are they afraid of this guy?” Trump said Wednesday.

Presidents cannot unilaterally cancel Senate hearings, given the independence of the legislative branch of government.

On Wednesday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said in a social media post that Trump had “directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today.”

Cotton, who called the decision “regrettable,” had said earlier in the day that the committee would proceed with the hearing unless Trump directly intervened.

The White House declined to comment beyond Trump’s social media post.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters that Republicans will “just have to take it a day at a time” until the White House explains its position.

Democrats have said they won’t help extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a controversial spying tool, so long as Pulte is in line to serve as intelligence chief. Trump announced Clayton’s nomination shortly after Democrats and some Republicans voted against extending FISA last week, letting the program expire.

By linking FISA to the voting legislation and ensuring Pulte will at least temporarily take up the position, Trump appears to have entrenched the Democratic opposition to the program.

“It’s all on the Republicans,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters.

In his early morning post, Trump, who is in France for the Group of Seven summit, argued that Republicans “fell into a trap” by expediting the Clayton hearing and ensuring Pulte would be replaced without also ensuring a vote on FISA.

“Therefore, to add a slight bit of intrigue but, for the Good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it,” Trump wrote.

The Save America Act would impose new voting requirements, such as providing documented proof of citizenship and a photo ID. Trump has spent weeks urging Republicans to pass the bill and has recently insisted that it should be attached to the FISA legislation.

Section 702 allows intelligence agencies to gather the texts, phone calls and emails of foreigners who are living abroad and suspected of posing a threat to U.S. national security.

While Republicans and Democrats mostly agree that the program is critical — helping supply more than 60% of the information included in the president’s daily intelligence brief — civil libertarians and privacy advocates in Congress have argued that it is vulnerable to abuse.

They have unsuccessfully sought to add a warrant requirement in cases that might involve U.S. citizens, such as when they are communicating with a foreigner under surveillance. Administrations from both parties have argued that the requirement would impede the timely collection of intelligence.

Trump’s backtracking Wednesday leaves the program without a clear path for renewal after it lapsed for the first time.

A government court that governs FISA has ruled that the tool can continue until next March without the explicit approval of lawmakers. But it remains unclear whether telecommunications firms that supply the information will continue to comply.

Sen. Mark R. Warner (Virginia), the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told reporters that so far the firms still appeared to be participating but said that it was an “open question” whether they would continue doing so.

_

• Robertson reported from Washington, and Craw from London.