A Republican congressman from Utah is a top contender to become President Trump’s next director of national intelligence.
National security adviser Robert O’Brien is advocating that the president tap GOP Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah to head the U.S. Intelligence Community made up of 17 intelligence and national security agencies, according to the New York Times.
Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire must step down in March after temporarily taking over the position following former Director Dan Coats’s resignation in August. Maguire also is the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, an Intelligence Community agency.
Trump has yet to make a firm decision on Stewart. His last pick for director of national intelligence, Rep. John Ratcliffe, withdrew from consideration in August. Critics of the pick questioned Ratcliffe’s experience for the role and said the Texas Republican would be blindly loyal to Trump. The president slammed Democrats and media outlets after Ratcliffe pulled his name from consideration.
“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,” Trump tweeted.
Stewart sits on the House Intelligence Committee and defended Trump during the chamber’s impeachment investigation into his handling of military aid to Ukraine and his July 2019 phone call with the country’s leader. Stewart has also criticized the Justice Department and FBI for their role in investigating the Trump campaign in 2016.
