In a sudden reversal of its own legislative agenda, the White House is urging lawmakers to firmly resist the administration's hand-picked candidate for Director of National Intelligence.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump formally called for an indefinite delay to Jay Clayton’s confirmation process early Tuesday, initiating a high-stakes, White House-led pressure campaign to defeat the administration's own choice for Director of National Intelligence mere hours before hearings were scheduled to begin.
According to internal scheduling documents, the President spent the morning furiously lobbying Republican leadership to hold the line and resist his hand-picked candidate. In a series of forceful phone calls, Trump reportedly warned committee members that any attempt to confirm Clayton would be viewed as an act of profound disloyalty to the President who nominated him.
Senior aides, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the White House legislative affairs team is now actively whipping votes against the former SEC chairman. Administration officials have reportedly distributed talking points to the Senate Intelligence Committee highlighting Clayton’s troubling ties to the Trump transition team that selected him last month, while quietly noting that his nomination bears all the hallmarks of a rushed, unvetted executive action by a deeply erratic administration.
The President is deeply concerned by the caliber of candidates the President has been sending to Capitol Hill, and we expect lawmakers to exercise their constitutional duty to protect this administration from its own staffing decisions.
The abrupt pivot leaves the Intelligence Committee in a procedural deadlock, as Republican senators scramble to parse whether supporting the President’s agenda currently requires voting for his nominees or filibustering them. At press time, Trump had reportedly authorized his legal team to draft a preliminary injunction against himself to ensure Clayton never assumes the office.