Senate panel proceeds with Clayton hearing despite Trump delay bid

The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to move ahead with Jay Clayton’s confirmation hearing for director of national intelligence, despite President Donald Trump’s overnight declaration that the hearing was “cancelled” as he sought to pressure Congress on surveillance and voting legislation.

Sen. Tom Cotton, the Arkansas Republican who chairs the committee, said Wednesday that Clayton remains formally before the panel. “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 social media.

Trump posted on Truth Social shortly before 4 a.m. Eastern from the G7 summit in France, less than 12 hours before Clayton was scheduled to appear. The president said he was delaying the nomination and would not approve renewal of a major surveillance authority unless Congress also advanced the SAVE America Act, a Republican voting bill that would require people registering to vote to show proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate. The bill failed in the Senate earlier this month.

“Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling 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 Guardian reported that Trump later told reporters at the G7 meeting that he would not sign the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act unless the voting bill was included. “I’m not going to sign Fisa unless it’s done,” he said.

The clash exposed a rift between Trump and Senate Republicans over a nomination that lawmakers had hoped to move quickly, potentially with bipartisan support. Clayton, now the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was nominated after bipartisan pushback against Trump’s plan to install Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director of national intelligence.

The director of national intelligence oversees the U.S. intelligence community across 18 agencies and organizations and advises the president on national security issues, including through the President’s Daily Brief.

Pulte has no known intelligence experience. NPR reported that lawmakers from both parties raised concerns that he could politicize the role, citing his use of his current post and social media platform to criticize Trump’s perceived opponents. Pulte has accused several figures of mortgage fraud, including Federal Reserve official Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; each has denied wrongdoing.

Trump said Republicans had moved too quickly on Clayton’s hearing after what he described as an agreement involving Pulte and the renewal of FISA. He wrote that Republicans had “fell into a trap,” saying Democrats were now threatening to vote against FISA after Republicans had moved to replace Pulte.

The surveillance authority at issue is FISA Section 702, a major intelligence-gathering tool. NPR reported that the uproar over Pulte contributed to the expiration Friday of a nearly two-decade-old spy law that underpins a large share of U.S. intelligence collection.

Clayton previously served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term, a post for which he was confirmed by the Senate. As U.S. attorney in Manhattan, he has overseen high-profile cases including the indictment and arrest of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Senators had aimed to confirm Clayton by June 19, the date Trump has said Pulte will step into the intelligence role temporarily. If confirmed, Clayton would succeed outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who announced her resignation last month, citing her husband’s cancer diagnosis.

Gabbard’s brief tenure drew controversy. NPR reported that she was confirmed in a near-party-line vote despite having no background in U.S. intelligence and past remarks supporting autocratic leaders in Syria and Russia. While in office, she attended an FBI raid on a Georgia election office tied to Trump’s baseless election fraud claims.