Trump derails compromise on intelligence nominee, deepening GOP turmoil

President Donald Trump has thrown Republican plans into disarray by ordering the cancellation of a Senate hearing on his pick to lead the nation’s intelligence agencies, Jay Clayton, and by linking the nomination to a broader fight over national security and voter ID legislation. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he would not approve the FISA measure without the SAVE America Act attached and said the Senate hearing on the intelligence nomination should be called off.

The move upended a compromise that Senate Republicans had been trying to build around the temporary intelligence chief post. Instead of moving toward Clayton’s confirmation process, Trump said Bill Pulte would remain acting director of national intelligence, prolonging a contentious interim arrangement that had already unsettled lawmakers.

Senate Republican leaders were preparing for a committee hearing when the president’s post landed. Clayton reportedly told some senators he had been asked not to attend, and the Senate Intelligence Committee later canceled the hearing. Committee chairman Tom Cotton called it “regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he was still “awaiting clarity” from the White House.

Democrats condemned the intervention, with Sen. Mark Warner, the committee’s top Democrat, calling it “an extraordinary display of dysfunction” and accusing Trump of turning national security into a political bargaining chip. The dispute leaves Congress in limbo over both the nomination and the reauthorization of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a surveillance authority lawmakers consider important for counterterrorism operations.