Senate moving forward with Clayton’s confirmation hearing despite Trump’s move to delay

Washington — The Senate is moving forward with Jay Clayton’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday, despite President Trump’s 11th-hour push to delay the installation of the new director of national intelligence, a move that scrambled Capitol Hill.

In an early morning post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump torpedoed the Senate’s plan to move ahead quickly with Clayton’s nomination with the hope of breaking a logjam on a key spy authority that expired late last week. The president said “we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today,” claiming it would not move forward until the Senate approves a replacement for his current role as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Despite the president’s demand, the Senate Intelligence Committee is set to proceed with the confirmation hearing, said GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the committee’s chairman. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

“Jay Clayton is a pending nominee before the Intelligence Committee. We will proceed with his hearing as scheduled unless the president directs him not to appear or withdraws his nomination,” Cotton wrote on X Wednesday morning. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune reiterated the message to reporters later Wednesday morning, saying Cotton plans to proceed with the confirmation hearing.

“From there on, we’ll just have to take it a day at a time,” Thune said, until senators get more “clarity” from the White House.

Mr. Trump announced Clayton as his pick late last week. Senate GOP leaders made a push to move ahead with the nomination quickly after the president’s selection of Bill Pulte, a housing official, as acting director roiled the chamber in recent weeks.

Democrats, and some Republicans, balked at the selection, given Pulte’s role in investigations into Mr. Trump’s political foes and his lack of national security experience. Democrats refused to agree to an extension of a key spy authority under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as long as Pulte was set to assume the role. 

Facing pressure from GOP leaders to nominate a long-term pick for DNI, Mr. Trump announced Clayton just hours before the spy authority was set to expire. But the announcement came too late for Congress to act.

In his lengthy post Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump said that “the Republicans moved so fast with the hearings of the Great Jay Clayton, current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, that Pulte would be gone before the Dumocrats would vote on FISA.” He claimed “the Republicans fell into a trap.” And he also threatened not to approve a reauthorization of the key spy authority unless an elections bill known as the SAVE America Act, which Democrats widely oppose, is attached.

The move put the confirmation process in limbo, upending what appeared to be a glidepath to confirmation for Clayton hours earlier.

Clayton is a well-regarded attorney who currently oversees the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, one of the highest-profile and most prestigious jurisdictions in the country. The office is known for its prosecution of white-collar cases and financial crimes. Clayton served as the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the first Trump administration following a lengthy career at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell.

Senate Republicans celebrated the nomination. Thune told reporters that Clayton has “a great reputation of being an incredibly competent manager.” Cotton called Clayton an “excellent choice,” while vowing to process his nomination quickly.

“In his service to the people of New York, Mr. Clayton has deep experience combatting a wide range of national security threats,” Cotton said. 

Clayton’s nomination came after Tulsi Gabbard announced in May that she would resign as director of national intelligence, citing her husband’s cancer diagnosis. She was originally expected to remain in the role until the end of June, but Mr. Trump said last week that Pulte would take over this Friday. 

The possibility of Pulte as acting DNI, and Democrats’ continued opposition to reauthorizing Section 702 in response, prompted Senate Republicans to move quickly to install Clayton in the role. Thune said last week that the chamber would “probe the limits” of what’s realistic in their efforts to quickly confirm Clayton, setting up his hearing within days.

The Intelligence Committee was expected to vote on Clayton’s nomination as soon as Thursday. But the president’s interjection calls that into question.