Under pressure.. Trump resolves the battle for leadership of US intelligence news

US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he intends to nominate the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and former Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, to serve as Director of National Intelligence.

This came against the backdrop of pressure from Congress to appoint a permanent replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month, along with strong opposition to his decision to appoint Bill Bolte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director of national intelligence.

Democrats have vowed to withhold foreign intelligence powers if Trump does not name a new director of national intelligence, with a few Republicans calling on the president to change course.

In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump praised Clayton, who currently serves as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Few people anywhere in the legal community are as respected as Jay,” Trump wrote. “I urge the US Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible,” he added.

Battle for US intelligence leadership

While Bolte was only chosen on an interim basis – by proxy – he could technically remain in the position for 210 days after taking office, and by not being formally nominated, he would also have circumvented Senate confirmation.

As for Clayton, his confirmation will require a majority vote in the US Senate, where Republicans currently hold 53 seats out of 100.

The nomination comes just one day after Trump, in a post on Truth Social, advised Bolte to cut staff in the office that oversees and coordinates 18 agencies in the intelligence community, including the CIA and the National Security Agency.

Gabbard, a former Democrat who supported Trump ahead of the 2024 election, announced last month that she would leave office, citing her husband’s cancer treatment.

She remained a vocal supporter of the president even when the US arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the war with Iran appeared to undermine her own ideological position.