Trump Intelligence Director

President Donald Trump is nominating 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 Thursday amid pressure from Congress to name a permanent replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, who announced her resignation last month. Trump faced intense pushback over his decision to name Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director. The resulting uproar led to a standoff in Congress as Democrats said they would refuse to renew foreign intelligence powers unless Trump pulled Pulte’s nomination and named a permanent nominee.

A key surveillance tool that allows the United States to collect intelligence abroad appears certain to expire. That's because the House and Senate on Thursday failed to temporarily extend the program, which is set to expire on Friday at midnight. The votes are seen as a protest to President Donald Trump’s temporary pick of housing regulator Bill Pulte to head the nation’s intelligence agencies. After the votes, Trump announced he planned to nominate U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, for the permanent job. It's not clear whether that might break the impasse.

President Donald Trump is trying to stop the confirmation process for his own nominee to head the nation’s intelligence agencies. Trump's extraordinary move Wednesday upended Senate efforts to renew a crucial surveillance program that expired last week and fueled fresh tensions with fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill. Trump declared in a social media post he was delaying the nomination of Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence just hours before his scheduled hearing. Republicans eventually postponed the hearing for Clayton, who's U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Further complicating matters, Trump says he won't sign the surveillance program renewal without his legislation to require proof of citizenship for voters.