President Donald Trump's move to pull the hearing for his own Director of National Intelligence nominee Jay Clayton at the last minute was driven by fury over Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Politico's Meredith Lee Hill reported on Wednesday.
This comes as Republicans are eager to get Clayton confirmed before current DNI Tulsi Gabbard officially resigns her position, at which point Bill Pulte, a controversial Trump loyalist with no qualifying experience in national security, would take over the office on an acting basis.
"Trump publicly knifing Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s plans to potentially confirm Jay Clayton before @pulte takes over as acting DNI comes after Thune told FOX News last night that 'the answer isn’t always yes to the things that he wants to do' given Senate rules and procedure," noted Hill.
These remarks, she continued, "did not go over well" with the White House, infuriating Trump and prompting him to delay the hearing to get Clayton, currently serving as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, confirmed into his new role.
All of this comes amid a growing rift between Trump and Thune, who have key differences on major issues like the Senate filibuster.
Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has earned a reputation as an attack dog for Trump, using the powers of his office to go fishing through the financial records of various Trump critics and opponents to look for irregularities. He made criminal referrals for a number of people, like New York Attorney General Letitia James, based on minor technical paperwork issues with mortgages that he claimed were signs of "fraud."
Some experts have sounded the alarm at Pulte holding the DNI office for any period of time, warning he could use intelligence powers to manipulate the midterm elections — and even Republicans in Congress are reportedly worried about him.
Democrats, meanwhile, are refusing to re-authorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) until a qualified DNI is chosen, causing the program to lapse.
