Elections attorney Marc Elias laid bare on MS NOW's "The Weeknight" the chilling reason why President Donald Trump is so desperate to put far-right partisan loyalist Bill Pulte in charge of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Specifically, he argued, it's all a bid to seize control of elections — something some other legal experts have also speculated.
This comes after Trump blew up today's planned hearing for the nomination of Jay Clayton to serve as DNI on a permanent basis, which was interpreted by both parties to mean he wants Pulte in charge at least for a temporary period.
"Look, I think that everyone needs to be paying attention to this exact issue," said Elias, noting that Pulte has no qualifications to be DNI and that this actually violates federal statute. "He has none, zero, zip, zilch. The reason why Donald Trump wants him in that position is that what Bill Pulte is, is he is a made man in the election denier movement like he is."
Pulte, continued Elias, "has done everything that Donald Trump would want someone in that position to have done, to contest or to challenge or to undermine free and fair elections in the past. And presumably, he thinks will do his bidding in the future."
Notably, he added, Clayton, whom Trump is ostensibly nominating for the permanent role, has been "out of the blue" pushing conspiracy theories about the election in California. "It was absolutely bizarre ... what the hell is the top federal prosecutor in New York City doing opining on California elections? Well, we quickly found out that it's because he was auditioning for a job to take over this position."
"So, look, my supposition is that maybe that wasn't enough for Donald Trump," Elias said. "He wants a proven election denier in the position so that when there are foreign interference or when there needs to be claims of foreign interference, his guy is sitting in the seat."