Tag: John Ratcliffe

Trump’s pick for national intelligence director is disengaged from committee work on Capitol Hill, officials say

Washington Post logoPresident Trump’s nominee to be the nation’s next spy chief is regarded as a relatively disengaged member of the House Intelligence Committee and is little known across the ranks of spy agencies he has been tapped to lead, according to interviews with congressional and intelligence officials.

Though Rep. John Ratcliffe’s membership on the House committee is perhaps his most important credential for the top intelligence job, officials said he has yet to take part in one of its overseas trips to learn more about spy agencies’ work. The other new lawmakers on the panel have done so or are scheduled to travel in the coming months.

It is also unclear whether Ratcliffe (R-Tex) has spent much time at the headquarters of the CIA, the National Security Agency or other parts of the sprawling U.S. intelligence community that he has been nominated to direct.

View the complete August 1 article by Shane Harris and Greg Miller on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s pick to lead U.S. intelligence claims he arrested 300 illegal immigrants in a single day. He didn’t.

Washington Post logoPresident Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s intelligence community often cites a massive roundup of immigrant workers at poultry plants in 2008 as a highlight of his career. Rep. John Ratcliffe claims that as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Texas, he was the leader of the immigration crackdown, describing it as one of the largest cases of its kind.

“As a U.S. Attorney, I arrested over 300 illegal immigrants on a single day,” Rat­cliffe (R-Tex.) says on his congressional website.

But a closer look at the case shows that Ratcliffe’s claims conflict with the court record and the recollections of others who participated in the operation — at a time when he is under fire for embellishing his record.

View the complete August 1 article by Robert O’Harrow, Jr. and Shawn Boburg on The Washington Post website here.

Trump might bypass protocol in naming acting intelligence chief because current deputy isn’t sufficiently loyal: report

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump clearly went for a loyalist when he nominated Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas to replace National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, who has announced his resignation. But first, Ratcliffe — whose devotion to Trump was painfully evident during his hostile questioning of former special counsel Robert Mueller during a congressional hearing on July 24 — must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. And CNN is reporting that Trump is bypassing traditional protocolswhile appointing an acting intel chief to hold the position while Ratcliffe awaits a Senate confirmation hearing.

Under a “normal” presidency with traditional protocols honored, Deputy Intelligence Director Sue Gordon would be a logical choice either as a temporary or permanent replacement for Coats. But according to two CNN sources, the problem Trump has with Gordon — even as a temporary intel chief — is that she would not be the type of unquestioning loyalist that Trump is seeking.

The Trump Administration, CNN reports, is “reviewing whether it can legally choose an acting director outside the line of succession.” But those two sources stressed to CNN that no final decision has been made.

View the complete July 30 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.

Trump’s Intel Nominee Ratcliffe Promoted Conspiracy Theories

Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), President Donald Trump’s newly announced pick to be the next director of National Intelligence overseeing the 17 U.S. intelligence services, doesn’t have much experience in intelligence. Previous occupants of the position have had long careers serving in the U.S. Senate, military, foreign service, or intelligence agencies. By contrast, Ratcliffe, a former U.S. attorney and small town mayor, is a third-term congressman who joined the House Intelligence Committee a scant six months ago.

What Ratcliffe really brings to the table is a willingness to protect Trump from the implications of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election by parroting the fantasies of the president’s most ardent Fox News defenders.

A few days after interviewing for the job, the congressman benefited from the opportunity to “essentially audition for the president” during Mueller’s Wednesday hearings, The New York Times reported. If those hearings were Ratcliffe’s audition, then callbacks came Thursday when he used an interview on Fox & Friends, one of the president’s favorite programs, to play the network’s anti-Mueller hits to the audience of one.

View the complete July 29 article by Melissa Joskow from Media Matters on the National Memo website here.

Ratcliffe, Trump’s pick to lead U.S. intelligence, faces head winds in Congress

Washington Post logoPresident Trump’s announcement Sunday that he will nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Tex.) as the next director of national intelligence drew immediate opposition from Senate Democrats and tepid support from key Republicans, an early indication that the junior congressman might not sail smoothly to confirmation.

Current and former intelligence officials also said Ratcliffe is the least-qualified person ever nominated to oversee the country’s intelligence agencies and questioned whether he would use the position to serve Trump’s political interests.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which would vet Ratcliffe when the chamber returns from its summer recess, called the congressman to congratulate him. When the White House submits the official nomination, “we will work to move it swiftly through regular order,” Burr said in a statement.

View the complete July 29 article by Shane Harris on The Washington Post website here.