President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he’s nominating Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, to be his next director of national intelligence.
“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”
The pick comes amid a firestorm on Capitol Hill over Trump’s earlier decision to make top housing official Bill Pulte the acting national intelligence chief following the planned departure of Tulsi Gabbard.
The elevation of Pulte, who has no national security background, prompted pushback from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers and has endangered the renewal of critical government surveillance powers.
Clayton served as the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term.
