President Trump is reconsidering Rep. John Ratcliffe to lead the U.S. Intelligence Community less than one year after the Texas Republican withdrew his name from consideration for the same position.
According to a report from CNN, Ratcliffe and U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra are the two top candidates Trump is considering to be his nominee to permanently fill the director of national intelligence role. Trump recently appointed U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell as the acting director but acknowledged that the arrangement would not be permanent.
Trump previously picked Ratcliffe to replace Dan Coats as the director in August, but the congressman withdrew his name from consideration after some senators doubted his credentials, and he was accused of embellishing his professional record as it related to the prosecution of Hamas terrorists.
At the time, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Ratcliffe of being nominated only because he was “blindly loyal” to Trump. When Ratcliffe withdrew his name from consideration, he blamed what he described as a partisan nomination process.
“I was humbled and honored that the President put his trust in me to lead our nation’s intelligence operations and remain convinced that when confirmed, I would have done so with the objectivity, fairness and integrity that our intelligence agencies need and deserve,” Ratcliffe said. “However, I do not wish for a national security and intelligence debate surrounding my confirmation, however untrue, to become a purely political and partisan issue.”
Trump lamented Ratcliffe’s decision, tweeting, “Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media. Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people.”
Ratcliffe was elected to Congress in 2014. He sits on the intelligence and judiciary panels. The Texas congressman is an ardent defender of the president, which was reflected throughout the House impeachment process and in his questioning of then-special counsel Robert Mueller.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Ratcliffe’s office about his potential nomination but did not hear back by the time of publication.
