ÉVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — President Donald Trump said early Wednesday that his administration would cancel a planned Senate hearing to review his pick to serve as director of national intelligence, linking the nomination to his weeks-long efforts to pass new voting restrictions.
Trump had tapped Jay Clayton, who is serving as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to fill the intelligence post. The president then nominated Jamie McDonald, a lawyer in private practice, on Saturday to replace Clayton.
But Trump said on his Truth Social platform Wednesday that he would not proceed with the Clayton hearing for now, leaving Bill Pulte — a housing official who has no national security experience — as intelligence director. Trump also reiterated his call that the voting bill, the Save America Act, must be linked with efforts to pass national security legislation.
“We are canceling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney,” Trump wrote. “In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.”
The abrupt cancellation of Clayton’s hearing — scheduled for Wednesday afternoon — tees up another clash between Trump and Senate Republicans, who have been unhappy with his pick of Pulte as acting intelligence chief and resistant to his efforts to attach his voting-rights bill to other legislation.
Democrats also had said they would block an extension of FISA, a controversial surveillance tool, so long as Pulte was in line to serve as intelligence chief. Trump announced Clayton’s nomination shortly after Congress did not extend FISA last week, letting the program expire.
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.
Trump appointed Pulte, the head of a mortgage regulation agency, as acting director of national intelligence this month to replace Tulsi Gabbard. She announced her resignation in May, saying she was leaving the post because of her husband’s bone cancer diagnosis.
Craw reported from London.
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