President Donald Trump said Friday he will nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe to be Director of National Intelligence, months after the Texas Republican withdrew his name from consideration for the post.
If confirmed by the Senate, Ratcliffe will take over from Amb. Richard Grenell, who Trump appointed acting director of national intelligence earlier this month.
As a member of the House Judiciary and House Intelligence Committees, Ratcliffe has been one of the leading Republicans behind the push to release information related to the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign.
That GOP-led effort led to a Justice Department inspector general’s (IG) probe, which found that the FBI misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in order to obtain spy warrants against Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide. (RELATED: John Ratcliffe: Trump Isn’t Above The Law, ‘But He Damn Sure Isn’t Below It’)
Trump said in his announcement that Ratcliffe wanted to wait until the release of the IG report to take over as intelligence director.
“Would have completed process earlier, but John wanted to wait until after IG Report was finished. John is an outstanding man of great talent!” Trump said on Twitter.
I am pleased to announce the nomination of @RepRatcliffe (Congressman John Ratcliffe) to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Would have completed process earlier, but John wanted to wait until after IG Report was finished. John is an outstanding man of great talent!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2020
Trump withdrew Ratcliffe’s nomination on Aug. 2 as Democrats complained that the Republican lawmaker did not have enough intelligence experience to handle the job. Ratcliffe, a former federal prosecutor, had served at that time for six months on the House Intelligence panel.
Ratcliffe played a prominent role on that committee during impeachment hearings against Trump.
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