President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the nation’s 17 intelligence agencies faces off with senators Tuesday morning in a confirmation hearing expected to focus largely on independence from the White House, Russian election interference and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), a steadfast ally of the president, is expected to face a grilling session before the Senate Intelligence Committee as he vies to become the director of national intelligence amid an unprecedented global health crisis and ahead of the 2020 presidential election, which national security officials have long warned will be a prime target for interference from foreign adversaries like Russia.
Ratcliffe has relatively little experience working in the intelligence field, though he has served on the House Intelligence Committee for more than a year. Trump initially chose him for the post last year, but Ratcliffe withdrew from consideration just days later amid questions about whether he embellished aspects of his resume from his time as a U.S. attorney in Texas. He was first elected to the House in 2014.
In addition to Ratcliffe’s qualifications, the hearing is expected to focus extensively on the committee’s recent conclusions about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election — namely, that the Kremlin’s malign activities were carried out with the intention of boosting Trump’s candidacy.
That conclusion contradicts the House intelligence panel’s 2018 report which disputed the idea that Moscow interfered with the goal of helping Trump. The president himself has also rejected that assessment.
The Texas Republican will also likely be questioned about the origins of the coronavirus. Last week, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence took the unusual step of issuing a public statement acknowledging that the clandestine community continues to “rigorously examine” whether the outbreak “began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan,” the city in China where the virus was initially identified.
Trump undercut the statement hours later when he claimed he had seen evidence that gave him a “high degree of confidence” that the coronavirus originated from the lab, though he declined to offer details.
Ratcliffe gained national prominence last year during the House’s hearing with former special counsel Robert Mueller, in addition to the impeachment inquiry. Ratcliffe endeared himself to the president after grilling Mueller on a host of issues, and he continued that streak during the impeachment investigation, using his perch on the Intelligence and Judiciary committees to fiercely defend the president against Democrats’ charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
If he is confirmed to the post, Ratcliffe would replace another Trump ally, Richard Grenell, atop the nation’s intelligence apparatus. Grenell has drawn the ire of congressional Democrats over his fiery personality and his reputation as a GOP political operative.
Trump appointed Grenell in an acting capacity after forcing out the previous acting director, Joseph Maguire, after learning that Maguire had authorized congressional briefings on Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2020 campaign.
Republican senators have been eager to install a permanent nominee to lead the intelligence community, and several of them have commented favorably about Ratcliffe’s qualifications.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.
As lawmakers try to observe social distancing during the Senate’s first week back in Washington in more than a month, the hearing room will be largely empty and just a few senators will be present at any given time.