Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence, is set to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
Trump tapped Clayton, currently the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, for the role leading the nation’s spy agencies last Thursday, saying in a Truth Social post that “few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay.”
Clayton’s nomination comes on the heels of Trump’s controversial selection of Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist who has effectively no intelligence experience, to serve as the acting national intelligence chief after the previous director, Tulsi Gabbard, announced her resignation last month. The choice met with bipartisan backlash and contributed to the failure of Trump’s push to extend a contentious surveillance law, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), before its expiration last week.
Read More: Who Is Bill Pulte, Trump’s New Acting Director of National Intelligence?
Clayton’s nomination has been received more favorably by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
“Jay Clayton’s experience combatting a wide range of national security threats makes him an excellent choice to lead ODNI,” Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the chair of the Intelligence Committee, wrote on X.
“I have known and respected Jay Clayton for many years and believe he is a capable public servant,” Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the vice chair of the committee, said in a statement.
Trump tapped Clayton for U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York shortly after returning to office in 2024. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blocked the nomination the following April by withholding his approval as one of the state’s senators, however—though he cited deep skepticism of “Donald Trump’s intentions” rather than any objection to Clayton in particular.
Trump shortly thereafter appointed Clayton to the role in an interim capacity, allowing him to bypass the Senate confirmation process. Clayton then assumed the position on a permanent basis in August, after he was approved by federal judges in the district.
While serving in the role, Clayton has overseen prominent cases such as the indictment of former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his office’s review of many files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In November, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Clayton would investigate Democrats’ ties to Epstein following a directive from Trump, calling the U.S. attorney “one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country.”
Prior to his appointment to the U.S. attorney position, Clayton served as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from May 2017 to December 2020, during Trump’s first term.
As SEC chairman, Clayton led the agency through global financial disruptions, including Brexit and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. He adopted a generally business-friendly approach to the role, though his tenure saw the agency take steps to crack down on cryptocurrency and file a lawsuit against Elon Musk over Twitter disclosures.
Clayton has also spent many years working in the private sector, primarily at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, which lists him as a retired partner.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said on Tuesday that he intends to bring Clayton’s nomination to the floor of the upper chamber “very quickly” following his confirmation hearing.
Thune called Clayton a “good” and “solid” choice in an interview a day earlier, asserting that Democrats “ought to be happy” with him as the nominee.
While Democrats have appeared more receptive to Clayton, in the wake of his nomination they have largely kept their focus on Pulte, continuing to demand his removal as acting intelligence head.
Schumer told reporters that “Pulte has got to go,” saying that “the DNI role is too important for him to be there. He has got to go, period. No matter what else they do.” He meanwhile did not offer an opinion on Trump nominating Clayton.
In the same statement in which he praised Clayton as a “capable public servant,” Warner cautioned that Pulte must exit his position before the Senate can address extending FISA Section 702.
Read More: The FBI Is Quietly Spying on Americans Without Warrants. The FISA Fight Could Stop It
“While I am glad to see the president finally come to his senses, before the Senate can take up a FISA extension there needs to be a clear guarantee that Mr. Pulte will not serve as acting DNI,” Warner said.
In a post a day before he nominated Clayton, Trump asked Congress to extend the spy powers provision, which allows the U.S. government to conduct surveillance on foreign targets abroad without a warrant, “to provide time for the selection and confirmation of a permanent Head of the Agency” and said that Pulte would remain in the acting role.
"He's only there for a little while,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “He's running it for a short while, while we get a very talented person, Jay Clayton."
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