Tag: John Ratcliffe

Ratcliffe went off script with Iran remarks, officials say

The intelligence chief went slightly further than the talking points shared with other agencies.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe went off script when he alleged during a press conference last week that Iran was sending intimidating emails to Americans in order to “damage President Trump,” according to two senior administration officials with knowledge of the episode.

The reference to Trump was not in Ratcliffe’s prepared remarks about the foreign election interference, as shown to and signed off by FBI Director Chris Wray and senior DHS official Chris Krebs, the director of the department’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency.

Wray and Krebs stood behind Ratcliffe as he addressed the public, supportive of the general intention to alert voters to a malicious influence operation. But they were surprised by Ractliffe’s political aside, which had not appeared in the prepared text, the officials said. Continue reading.

Ratcliffe’s warning on foreign interference with US voters provokes skepticism

Democrats disagree with intelligence chief that Iran was out to hurt President Donald Trump

The director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, in a hastily assembled news conference late Wednesday with FBI and Homeland Security officials, said that Iran and Russia had managed to steal voter registration information and were targeting voters, spreading disinformation intended to harm President Donald Trump.

But Ratcliffe’s warnings immediately drew skeptical reactions from Democratic lawmakers, some of whom had been briefed in private about the interference. They specifically disputed that the actions by Iran were intended to harm Trump.

Instead of listening to Ratcliffe, the House Homeland Security Committee said in its Twitter feed that Americans should listen to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Wray and Krebs stood with Ratcliffe at the Wednesday evening press briefing. Continue reading.

Scoop: Trump’s spy chief releases new batch of Russia docs to Justice Department

Axios logo

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has approved the release to the Department of Justice of a large binder full of documents to assist a review of the Obama administration’s handling of the Trump-Russia investigation, according to a source with direct knowledge of the materials and confirmed by Ratcliffe.

Why it matters: The release, which is being revealed publicly for the first time today, comes as President Trump is urging his agencies to expedite the release of materials that he believes will be politically advantageous to him. 

  • It follows a flurry of tweets by the president accusing the Obama administration of orchestrating a “treasonous plot” against him by investigating his campaign’s ties to Russia.

Intel chief Ratcliffe declassifies transcripts of Flynn calls

The Hill logoDirector of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Friday announced that he has declassified the transcripts related to Michael Flynn’s conversations with a Russian diplomat during the presidential transition.

Ratcliffe, who was sworn in Tuesday, said it was his decision to declassify the documents relating to the former national security adviser in an effort to provide “transparency” while protecting sources and methods.

“As I stated throughout the confirmation process, transparency is vital to allowing the American people to have confidence in the Intelligence Community. As the Director of National Intelligence, it is my obligation to review declassification requests with the overarching priority of protecting sources and methods, while also providing transparency whenever possible,” Ratcliffe said in a statement. Continue reading.

Senate confirms Ratcliffe to be Trump’s spy chief

The Hill logoThe Senate on Thursday confirmed Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) to be President Trump‘s next spy chief. 

Senators voted 49-44 on Ratcliffe’s nomination to the director of national intelligence(DNI), a position that has been filled in an acting capacity since former DNI Dan Coats stepped down in August.

The vote is one of the final items on the Senate’s to-do list before the chamber leaves town for a weeklong Memorial Day recess. And it comes only days after the Senate Intelligence Committee advanced Ratcliffe’s nomination along party lines. Continue reading.

John Ratcliffe, Trump’s pick for top intelligence post, clears divided Senate panel

Washington Post logoTexas congressman John Ratcliffe (R) took a step closer to becoming President Trump’s top intelligence adviser on Tuesday, after the Senate Intelligence Committee voted along party lines to move his nomination to the full Senate.

Committee members voted 8 to 7 in favor of Ratcliffe as the next director of national intelligence, following an extraordinary hearing earlier this month held under social distancing guidelines. Ratcliffe sat far back from masked senators who questioned him on his credentials and whether he was capable of acting independently of his political allegiance to the president.

The committee vote was held behind closed doors in a secure facility in the Capitol. Ratcliffe is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate in a vote likely to be held after Memorial Day, according to congressional aides. Continue reading.

Kamala Harris burns down Trump intelligence nominee over the president’s well-documented effort to minimize COVID-19 risk

AlterNet logoRep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) was peppered with questions about how President Donald Trump has handled the COVID-19 pandemic.

At his Senate confirmation hearing for Director of National Intelligence, Ratcliffe was asked what he would do if Trump downplayed future threats as he had done with the coronavirus pandemic.

“Do you think President Trump has accurately portrayed the threat of COVID-19 to the American people?” Harris wondered. Continue reading.

Trump’s intel power play spooks the spooks

The CIA never welcomed its overlords in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. But now, the agency confronts its worst nightmare.

President Donald Trump’s nomination of Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe to serve as the nation’s intel chief has led to some apprehension within the intelligence community, which has only grudgingly come to accept the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as a force for good.

The office, established in 2004 to better coordinate the flow of information between agencies after the intelligence failures that led up to 9/11, has been most effective as a day-to-day manager focusing on bureaucratic and budgeting issues, intel veterans said — giving the agencies political top cover and more freedom to focus on their core missions.

But with a grip on the President’s Daily Brief, broad discretion over the agencies’ responsiveness to Congress, and responsibility for intelligence community whistleblowing and source protection, the DNI can easily veer into the political and revive the kind of friction that plagued its relationship with the intelligence community in its early days. Continue reading.

History repeats itself: Donald Trump tweets that John Ratcliffe will be director of national intelligence, again

Texas congressman was previously announced by Trump as his nominee for the position last July, before pulling back

Rep. John Ratcliffe is once again President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of national intelligence.

The president announced in a tweet Friday that he was nominating the Texas Republican, calling him “an outstanding man of great talent!”

This is not the first time Trump has tweeted that Ratcliffe would be nominated for the intelligence leadership post, which is currently occupied on an acting basis by U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell. Continue reading.

Trump walks back plan to nominate John Ratcliffe as DNI

Axios logoPresident Trump announced that Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) would not be nominated to become the next director of national intelligence in a pair of Friday tweets, saying it would expose him to “months of slander and libel.”

“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. John has therefore decided to stay in Congress.”

The state of play, via Axios’ Jonathan Swan: Ratcliffe withdrew himself, per sources familiar with the situation. He was watching coverage of his possible nomination pile up, and the White House was getting word that he would struggle to get enough Republicans to confirm him. Ratcliffe “thought better to pull out now than put family through confirmation only to come up shy,” texted a source familiar with his thinking.

  • According to a third source familiar with the situation, Ratcliffe did not anticipate the intensity of the reaction to his name being floated.

View the complete August 2 article on the Axios website here.