Senate to Hold Hearing for Intel Pick  07/15 06:15

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump's pick to head the 
nation's intelligence agencies, will testify before the Senate Intelligence 
Committee on Wednesday, weeks after Trump abruptly delayed his nomination.

   Republicans and even some Democrats have been eager to quickly confirm 
Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former 
Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, as they have expressed concerns 
about Trump's interim appointee for the intelligence post, Bill Pulte. Pulte, 
who has been in the job since June 19, is a former housing official with no 
known intelligence experience and who used his previous administration perch to 
target perceived adversaries of the president.

   Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., expressed 
frustration when Trump delayed Clayton's nomination in a social media post last 
month, allowing Pulte to take office. Cotton said then that Clayton had been 
instructed not to appear at a scheduled confirmation hearing, but he 
rescheduled the hearing three weeks later, with apparent approval from the 
White House.

   "Mr. Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president 
has said repeatedly," Cotton said.

   While Clayton has received some bipartisan praise, Democrats are expected to 
aggressively question him on how he would approach the issue of election 
interference, especially as Trump has said he will deliver a primetime address 
on Thursday with a focus on elections, suggesting he could revisit 
long-debunked conspiracy theories about his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.

   "Trump made it clear that he expects whomever is Director of National 
Intelligence to promote his baseless election conspiracy theories," said Oregon 
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democratic member of the intelligence panel, after the 
nomination was delayed last month.

   Some Democrats praise Clayton, but bipartisan support is uncertain

   Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the panel's top Democrat on the Senate 
Intelligence Committee, said in June that he has "known and respected Jay 
Clayton for many years and believe he is a capable public servant." But he has 
stopped short of saying he would vote for him.

   Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House intelligence 
panel, said he worked with Clayton when he was chairman of the Securities and 
Exchange Commission, and "during that time, he had the independence of mind and 
respect for the law that are necessary for any Director of National 
Intelligence," Himes said.

   Still, most Democrats are expected to vote against his nomination. Sen. 
Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday that he expects to oppose Clayton, 
but he and other Democrats may not object if majority Republicans want to try 
and speed up his confirmation so that he can replace Pulte.

   "I'm not going to vote for him," Blumenthal said. "But I wouldn't object to 
an accelerated vote."

   As US attorney in Manhattan, Clayton oversees vast portfolio

   Clayton is currently the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New 
York, the most prestigious of the Justice Department's prosecution offices. His 
cases have ranged from terrorism and espionage cases to security fraud and 
public corruption.

   Democrats are certain to press Clayton on his role in recent subpoenas of 
four New York Times journalists after they reported on security concerns 
involving the new, Qatari-gifted Air Force One. The Committee to Protect 
Journalists has called the subpoenas "an extraordinary escalation in President 
Trump's efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations and 
have a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country."

   Under Clayton, the office also facilitated the unsealing of thousands of 
pages of court records from the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine 
Maxwell -- documents that were made public as part of the Justice Department's 
release of records related to the late sex offender and his longtime confidant.

   Clayton has also overseen the prosecution of former Venezuelan President 
Nicols Maduro and Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, on drug trafficking charges.

   Confirmation vote could unlock renewal of surveillance authority

   Clayton's confirmation could potentially clear the way for bipartisan 
legislation to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 
or FISA, which stalled last month when Democrats had said they would not 
provide the necessary votes to pass the bill unless Pulte's temporary 
appointment was withdrawn.

   The law, which aims to prevent terrorist attacks by monitoring the 
communications of targeted foreigners located outside the United States, 
expired in June.

   Even if Democrats relent, though, it is unclear if Trump would sign it. He 
said in his June social media post delaying Clayton's nomination that he would 
not sign the FISA renewal without his legislation to require proof of 
citizenship for all voters -- which does not have enough votes to pass the 
Senate.

   Clearing Clayton's nomination "would be a good first step" in moving the 
FISA renewal, said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, a member of the intelligence 
panel.

   Rounds said that Republicans hope to move Clayton's nomination quickly 
through the process, if Democrats don't object.

   "We're looking forward to getting him into that position as quickly as 
possible," he said.