Trump Derails Intel Chief Confirmation, Ties Surveillance Law to Voting Bill

President Trump upended his own intelligence chief nomination early Wednesday, posting a pre-dawn demand on Truth Social that halted Jay Clayton's Senate confirmation hearing and blocked renewal of a sweeping surveillance law — all in a bid to pressure Congress into passing a GOP voting bill and confirming a separate nominee.

The post, issued just before 4 a.m. Eastern while Trump attended the G7 Summit in France, threw into disarray what had been one of his smoothest pending nominations. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, announced the hearing postponement hours later. "It's regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today," Cotton wrote. "While today's hearing is now unfortunately postponed, I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future."

For Treasure Coast residents, the stakes extend beyond Senate procedure. The surveillance authority Trump is now holding hostage — FISA Section 702, a nearly two-decade-old spy law that underpins a significant share of U.S. intelligence gathering — expired Friday after Congress failed to reauthorize it. The lapse affects federal counterterrorism and cyber operations that protect Florida's military installations, including naval facilities and defense contractors along the I-95 corridor. Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), whose FL-21 district covers Martin and St. Lucie counties and whose committee assignments include national security issues, has not yet issued a public statement on the standoff.

Trump linked the blocked nomination to two separate demands: Senate confirmation of Jamie McDonald as U.S. Attorney and passage of the SAVE America Act, a Republican voting bill that would require documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, to register to vote. The bill failed in the Senate earlier this month.

In the interim, Trump said Bill Pulte — currently director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a vocal Trump ally with no intelligence background — will remain as acting director of national intelligence. Pulte's appointment drew concern from both Democrats and some Republicans, who worry he will use the role to target political opponents. Senators had been racing to confirm Clayton, a former Securities and Exchange Commission chair who now heads the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, before Pulte formally steps into the acting role June 19.

Clayton would succeed outgoing director Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month citing her husband's cancer diagnosis.

No new hearing date has been scheduled.

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