Senate Republicans say they are unfamiliar with President Trump’s pick to succeed Dan Coats as the next director of intelligence, and they are withholding critical support for now.
“I don’t know Rep. John Ratcliffe at all, and the White House has yet to submit his nomination to the Senate Intelligence Committee,” Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, told the Washington Examiner. “When that occurs, the Senate Intelligence Committee will thoroughly consider his nomination and hold a public hearing.”
Ratcliffe’s confirmation vote could be quite close, making Collins’ approval critical. She helped author the law creating the DNI post following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that revealed a serious lack of coordination within the intelligence community. The position, she said, “is of special interest to me.”
Democrats are already denouncing Ratcliffe, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, who argued on Monday that Ratcliffe does not have enough experience of expertise to hold the position. Schumer said he’ll oppose the nomination.
Coats was a senator for Indiana, first elected in 1980, and later served as the ambassador to Germany. He was admired by both parties and won confirmation with 85 votes.
Ratcliffe, 53, is a relative newcomer to Congress. He was elected in 2014 after serving as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas. He used his perch on the Judiciary panel to attack former special counsel Robert Mueller for declaring Trump was not exonerated after the nearly two-year investigation of alleged collusion between his presidential campaign and the Russians. “You didn’t follow the special counsel regulations,” Ratcliffe told Mueller at the hearing.
That exchange has led Democrats to speculate Trump selected Ratcliffe to serve as a loyalist and that Ratcliffe cannot be independent.
“If he sounds anything like he did while questioning Mueller, Senate Republicans would be making a grave, grave mistake by advancing his nomination, a mistake for the country that we love,” Schumer said.
The job, Schumer said, “requires a high level of expertise, trust from the intelligence community, and it requires a track record of independents, an ability in the closed confines of the White House to speak truth to power and tell the president what’s happening, not just what the president wants to hear.” Ratcliffe, Schumer said, “falls short of that high bar.”
Republicans control 53 votes, which means Ratcliffe can lose the backing of three Republicans and still win confirmation with a tie-breaking vote cast by Vice President Mike Pence.
Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, said in a floor speech Monday that Ratcliffe deserves to be confirmed. “He understands the threats facing our country and the challenges that lie ahead,” Cornyn said.
But Ratcliffe needs to worry most about winning over the GOP, beginning with the Intelligence Committee chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina. Burr issued a statement Monday promising to “swiftly” bring up the nomination but was silent on whether he will support Ratcliffe.
