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U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he is nominating Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, as director of national intelligence.
Trump announced the nomination on social media amid pressure from Congress to name a permanent replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, who announced her resignation last month. Trump faced intense pushback over his decision to name Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director. The job oversees the co-ordination of 18 intelligence agencies.
The resulting uproar led to a standoff in Congress after Democrats said they would refuse to renew foreign intelligence powers unless Trump pulled Pulte’s nomination and named a permanent nominee.
“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”
Speaking later Thursday in the Oval Office, Trump said he still plans to keep Pulte in the role “for a little while” after earlier saying he wants Pulte to downsize the office. He called Clayton an “incredible talent.”
As the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Clayton oversees the most prestigious of the Justice Department’s prosecution offices, with a vast portfolio ranging from terrorism and espionage cases to security fraud and public corruption.
He took over from interim U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, who resigned in February 2025 after refusing to carry out orders from the Justice Department to drop corruption charges against mayor Eric Adams. The case was eventually dropped after prosecutors from Washington submitted a request to a judge.
The U.S. senate intelligence committee plans to hold a confirmation hearing for Clayton on Wednesday, according to a person who requested anonymity to discuss it ahead of an official notice.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, told reporters that the Senate hopes to receive Clayton’s nomination paperwork from the White House as soon as Thursday.
Democrats want Pulte out
Democrats are holding up the renewal of a key surveillance law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, in protest of Trump’s decision to temporarily tap Pulte. They say they won’t support an extension of the law, which expires at midnight Friday, until Trump withdraws Pulte’s appointment.
Trump previously said Pulte would take over on June 19. It is unclear whether the Senate could move quickly enough to confirm Clayton before that date.
“I don’t know what realistic is, but we’re gonna probe the limits of it,” Thune said.
Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the house intelligence committee, said that he has “known and respected” Clayton for decades and that if Trump had named him as the DNI nominee last week, “lots of pain might have been avoided.”
“His intelligence, temperament and deep commitment to public service will make him a terrific DNI,” Himes said.
Asked about Clayton’s nomination, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, “Pulte has to go.”
“He cannot be in the DNI role,” Schumer said. “It’s too important.”
