McConnell mum on John Ratcliffe's qualifications to be intelligence chief

Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell praised President Donald Trump on Monday for looking for the Senate’s enter on a director of national intelligence nominee — however didn’t weigh in on Rep. John Ratcliffe’s (R-Texas) qualifications to steer the nation’s 17 intelligence businesses.

“President Trump has a robust monitor report of sending the Senate spectacular nominees for nationwide security posts who're nicely ready to guard our nation and defend our interests,” McConnell (R-Ky.) stated on the Senate flooring. “I hope Congressman Ratcliffe will impress senators just as did the other members of the president’s staff and earn a bipartisan confirmation vote.”

McConnell stated he appeared forward to assembly Ratcliffe in individual and expressed religion in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s means to hold a “truthful affirmation course of.”

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the chairman of the intelligence panel, made comparable comments on Friday after Trump announced the nomination, saying he appeared forward to contemplating it “via the Senate’s common order.”

Trump installed his ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, as appearing DNI final month, replacing Joseph Maguire, who also served as appearing intelligence chief. Democrats criticized the president for bypassing Congress by naming Grenell as appearing DNI, notably because Grenell lacks experience within the intelligence group.

Before Ratcliffe was nominated, Grenell was only capable of serve via March 11 underneath federal emptiness laws. Now, Grenell can stay on for months longer while Ratcliffe's nomination is pending.

Trump reportedly pressured Maguire out after an official working beneath him briefed the Home Intelligence Committee on Russia’s purported efforts to assist Trump’s 2020 re-election bid.

Trump announced last July that he would nominate Ratcliffe to succeed Maguire but never formally submitted the nomination to the Senate and pulled the decide days later amid studies that Ratcliffe had embellished points of his resume. At the time, Trump stood by Ratcliffe and stated he was being handled “unfairly” by the news media.

Ratcliffe, who just isn't looking for re-election in 2020, served as a chief defender of the president through the House’s impeachment inquiry. As a member of both the Intelligence and Judiciary committees, he had a outstanding position in the questioning of witnesses who spoke about allegations that Trump withheld army help from Ukraine with a purpose to strain that country’s authorities to examine Joe Biden.

Ratcliffe was also a member of Trump’s outdoors impeachment group through the Senate’s trial. The group included different close allies of the president, like Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Senate Democrats have indicated that they may oppose Ratcliffe, arguing that he does not have the required experience to serve in the position and is being picked due to his help for the president. Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) ripped Ratcliffe Monday as an “alarmingly partisan selection” and urged Senate Republicans to reject his nomination.

“He was a fierce critic of the Mueller investigation, earned reward from deep-state conspiracy theorists,” Schumer stated. “It is such a decline in America when this great company, the place individuals have risked their lives for America, quietly is made into a political football… With this nomination, President Trump has proven once more a scarcity of respect for the rule of regulation.”

Src: McConnell mum on John Ratcliffe's qualifications to be intelligence chief
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