Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, is set to lead the U.S. Intelligence Community.

The U.S. Senate has voted 51-43 to advance him to the role, and a confirmation vote this week would ensure a permanent director ahead of the midterm elections. Clayton has recently refused to say former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

Jay Clayton would replace Bill Pulte, who temporarily took over the position last month, after Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation. Pulte has no known intelligence experience and released classified documents earlier this month, to support Trump’s claims about the 2020 election. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, said he had worked in the past with Clayton, who is the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman.

Gabbard, a former Democrat and 2020 presidential candidate known for her anti-interventionist foreign policy views, endorsed Trump in 2024, citing his opposition to new wars and his broader foreign policy approach. She later resigned, citing her husband’s cancer diagnosis. But outside observers have debated whether other political factors also played a role.

Gabbard told Congress that U.S. intelligence assessed Iran had not rebuilt its uranium enrichment capability after the strikes, contradicting Trump’s claims that Tehran was again approaching a nuclear weapons capability. Her departure could create some political costs for Republicans by weakening their connection with anti-establishment and independent voters, although the electoral impact is difficult to measure. (EIR)