President Trump issued a two-part tweet saying his pick to take over as director of national intelligence, Congressman John Ratcliffe, Republican of Texas, is no longer his nominee, citing what he considered unfair media scrutiny.
“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,” Mr. Trump tweeted.
He addded, “John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country. I will be announcing my nomination for DNI shortly.”
The congressman was tapped to take over the job from former DNI Dan Coats this past Sunday after Mr. Trump tweeted news of his nomination. Coats will leave office Aug. 15, the president announced, and an acting director will serve in the interim.
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The president’s tweet ended months of speculation that Coats would either soon depart or be ousted from his role. Though he was among the longest-serving national security officials in the president’s cabinet, Coats’ public statements on behalf of the intelligence community occasionally ran contrary to Mr. Trump’s preferred policy outcomes, stoking the president’s ire.
Ratcliffe’s congressional bio claimed he “put terrorists in prison” during his four years as a prosecutor and U.S. attorney for eastern Texas. But his name does not appear in court documents for any terrorism-related cases. But as CBS News’ Olivia Gazis reported, Ratcliffe has shown less zeal for the day-to-day work of intelligence oversight, according to public records, committee members and other officials familiar with Ratcliffe’s work.
Most recently, Ratcliffe was one of the president’s fiercest defenders during former special counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional hearings. His office noted he “handled top secret, secret and confidential” information daily when he worked for the Department of Justice.
Ratcliffe, meanwhile, said that he remains “very grateful” to the president for his intentions to nominate him to the top intelligence job, he was withdrawing his name from consideration.
“I was humbled and honored that the President put his trust in me to lead our nation’s intelligence operations and remain convinced that when confirmed, I would have done so with the objectivity, fairness and integrity that our intelligence agencies need and deserve,” Ratcliffe said in a tweet Friday afternoon.
He added, “I do not wish for a national security and intelligence debate surrounding my confirmation, however untrue, to become a purely political and partisan issue. The country we all love deserves that it be treated as an American issue. Accordingly, I have asked the President to nominate someone other than me for this position.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
