WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he plans to nominate Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, as director of national intelligence.
Trump announced the nomination on social media amid pressure from Congress to name a permanent replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month. Trump faced intense pushback over his decision to name Bill
Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director.
The situation has led to a standoff in Congress after Democrats said they would refuse to renew a foreign intelligence powers unless Trump pulled Pulte’s nomination and named a permanent nominee.
“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump wrote. “I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”
As the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Clayton oversees the largest and most prestigious of the Justice Department’s prosecution offices, with a vast portfolio ranging from terrorism and espionage cases to security fraud and public corruption.
Trump has doubled down on naming Pulte acting director even has he emphasized it would be a short-term job. The president said he wanted Pulte to downsize the office, which has already been significantly scaled back in his second term.
Gabbard said she needed to leave the post as her husband is being treated for cancer. The job oversees the coordination of 18 intelligence agencies.
In naming Clayton for the post, Trump also highlighted his past leadership at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, which Trump described as “one of the most prominent and successful Law Firms anywhere in the World.”
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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
