President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe is his pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.
In a Truth Social post, Trump referred to Ratcliffe as “a warrior for Truth and Honesty” and said, “I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation’s highest Intelligence positions.”
Trump has kept up a steady clip of announcements about top aides and nominees for his second administration without as much drama as his first transition following his 2016 victory. He also said Tuesday he had chosen former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel and his longtime friend Steven Witkoff to be a special envoy to the Middle East.
Ratcliffe, who was a GOP congressman from Texas, served as director of national intelligence in the final months of Trump’s first term, leading the U.S. government’s spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. He’s viewed as a more traditional pick for the role, which requires Senate confirmation, than some rumored loyalists pushed by some of Trump’s supporters. His last Senate confirmation, for the DNI role, was along party lines.
As intelligence director, he was criticized by Democrats for declassifying in the final days of the 2020 presidential election Russian intelligence alleging damaging information about Democrats during the 2016 race even though he acknowledged it might not be true.
Ratcliffe’s visibility rose as he emerged in 2019 as an ardent defender of Trump during the House’s first impeachment proceedings against him. He was a member of Trump’s impeachment advisory team and questioned witnesses during the impeachment hearings.
After the Democratic-led House voted to impeach Trump, Ratcliffe called it “the thinnest, fastest and weakest impeachment our country has ever seen.” He also forcefully questioned former special counsel Robert Mueller when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
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