Senate panel advances Jay Clayton's nomination for director of national intelligence

By — Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/senate-panel-advances-jay-claytons-nomination-for-director-of-national-intelligence Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Senate panel advances Jay Clayton's nomination for director of national intelligence Politics Jul 21, 2026 8:26 PM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Intelligence Committee has advanced the nomination of Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump's pick to head the nation's intelligence agencies, along party lines. The 9-8 vote came after some Democrats had praised Clayton and indicated that they might vote for him. But that shifted after a contentious hearing last week in which Clayton repeatedly refused to say that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election. WATCH: Trump's intelligence nominee refuses to say who won 2020 election Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the panel, said at the end of the hearing that he was "bitterly disappointed" in Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, even though he had worked with him in the past. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. The committee's approval sets up a floor vote on Clayton's nomination, potentially early next week. The vote took place behind closed doors, as is customary for the panel, and all Democrats voted against Clayton, according to a person familiar with the vote who requested anonymity to disclose it. The Democratic pushback on Clayton comes as Trump has made revisiting the 2020 election, which he lost, a primary focus. On Thursday evening, he delivered a speech from the White House in which he again tried to cast doubts on that election and amplified debunked theories about Biden's win. Clayton told senators that he had no involvement with that speech, but he said repeatedly that the election was "certified" for Biden, declining to say outright that the Democrat won. Warner said after the vote on Tuesday that he wants to see someone in the job "who is going to be a restraint, not an agitator." Republicans want to quickly confirm Clayton Senators in both parties have expressed concerns about the interim director, Bill Pulte, who took over when Tulsi Gabbard resigned last month. Pulte has no known intelligence experience and investigated the president's perceived enemies in his previous post as a federal housing regulator. Republicans were hoping to confirm Clayton in June so he could replace Gabbard without Pulte serving as interim. But Trump delayed Clayton's nomination before the Senate left for a two-week recess, allowing Pulte to take the job temporarily. As the nomination heads to the Senate floor, it's unclear whether Democrats will allow Republicans to speed up a vote. Though he is opposing Clayto