Senate postpones Clayton's confirmation hearing after Trump upends plans for quick vote

Senate postpones Clayton's confirmation hearing after Trump upends plans for quick vote

Washington - The Senate reversed course and postponed Jay Clayton's confirmation hearing on Wednesday after President Trump's 11th-hour push to delay the installation of the new director of national intelligence 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, GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, initially said the panel planned to proceed with the confirmation hearing "unless the president directs him not to appear or withdraws his nomination."

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

But a couple of hours later, Cotton said the hearing is "now unfortunately postponed."

"It's regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today. Mr. Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president has said repeatedly," Cotton wrote on X. "I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future."

After the hearing had been postponed, Thune told CBS News that he hadn't received clarity from the White House.

"I can only do what I can do here," Thune said. "We're the Article I branch. The president, this is his nominee, and so obviously he made a decision not to move forward at the moment, and we'll see what comes next."

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.

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.

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.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon that "this is not a normal Democrats versus Republicans."

"This is a careless White House, a president that is treating our national security with complete disdain, acting at a level of recklessness that puts Americans at risk," Warner said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said "every time Republicans" search for a path forward, "Trump slams the door shut."

"He pulled the rug out from under his Republicans, who were trying to find that path forward," the New York Democrat said. "What shambles. What an embarrassment."