President Donald Trump is revisiting the idea of nominating Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe to be the next Director of National Intelligence, two sources told CNN.
Ratcliffe withdrew his name from consideration for the same job last year amid bipartisan concerns about his qualifications but the President now appears open to the idea of tapping him for the DNI job a second time.
Trump has spoken with Ratcliffe and another candidate, US Ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra, about the DNI job in recent days, multiple sources said. These have been preliminary discussions and Trump could speak with additional potential nominees in the coming days.
During these initial conversations, however, Trump has attempted to assess how loyal potential nominees would be to him should they be nominated and confirmed for the job, two sources said. Trump is looking for a pick who would back his mandate, explained one of the sources.
What mandate? To cover up his crimes for him? That mandate? He is a known liar so there’s that.
After Trump announced his intent to nominate Ratcliffe, reports surfaced revealing the Texas lawmaker had embellished his credentials — prompting swift criticism from Democratic members of Congress.
At the time, CNN reported that Republicans also privately raised concerns about Ratcliffe’s nomination to the White House.
Trump then blamed the media reports for Ratcliffe’s decision to pull his name.
In the time since that debacle unfolded, Ratcliffe has remained a faithful ally of Trump and was one of the members of Congress who Trump mentioned in his victory speech after his Senate impeachment acquittal.
Sen. Mark Warner, the Democratic vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned Trump Tuesday against nominating Ratcliffe.”I think there was pretty uniform bipartisan opposition to that pick earlier and I don’t think anything has changed,” Warner said.
I wouldn’t count on that. Since GOP Senators (except Romney) are all implicated in Trump’s behavior now, they are even less likely to buck him now than they were then.
But even if this is just a feint to make whoever they choose look like a safer choice, there is no safer choice. Trump has made his demands clear. The Intelligence Community is to be loyal to Donald Trump above all else. Grenell is cleaning house already and Trump won’t stand for anyone who doesn’t pledge total fealty. It may not be a clown like Ratcliffe, but it’s sure to be a toady. He won’t have it any other way.