{"id":579,"date":"2026-07-15T17:40:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=579"},"modified":"2026-07-15T17:40:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:40:24","slug":"clayton-defends-subpoenas-of-journalists-in-tense-confirmation-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=579","title":{"rendered":"Clayton defends subpoenas of journalists in tense confirmation hearing\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As Jay Clayton took his seat before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, the scene was starkly different from 28 days ago.<\/p>\n

Read more NRCC adds 7 more candidates to MAGA Majority program<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in June, just hours before Clayton\u2019s confirmation hearing for director of national intelligence was about to start, President Donald Trump abruptly ordered his nominee not to appear.<\/p>\n

This time around, Clayton was very much in attendance, defending his past comments about voter fraud and his role in the subpoenas of New York Times reporters over the weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely committed to and respect our First Amendment,\u201d said Clayton, adding he sought to \u201climit to the greatest extent possible any intrusion into the operation of the free press.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Senate Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the committee will hold a business meeting next week to vote on advancing the pick to the floor. If confirmed, Clayton will replace Bill Pulte, whose temporary appointment last month riled many Democrats after the resignation of former DNI Tulsi Gabbard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clayton\u2019s nomination had initially raised bipartisan hopes, with some seeing it as an olive branch that could help lawmakers move past debates that had derailed reauthorization of a key spy powers authority.<\/p>\n

But the mood had already soured somewhat after Trump tapped the brakes last month, citing a push for unrelated voter ID legislation and a desire to first see a replacement for Clayton\u2019s current role as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.<\/p>\n

And Democrats on Wednesday asked pointed questions about the subpoenas, which Clayton authorized in his capacity as U.S. attorney after the Times journalists reported on security features of the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One.<\/p>\n

Clayton defended his actions, saying he followed the \u201cprotocols\u201d in place for the Justice Department, but wouldn\u2019t specify whether he or anyone in his office spoke with the White House beforehand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis doesn\u2019t sound like the proper independent legal process that we would normally expect for issuance of a subpoena. The characteristics surrounding it seem rushed, aggressive, with an unnecessary urgency,\u201d Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said.<\/p>\n

Democrats also pressed Clayton on how he would approach the topic of election security, as Trump prepares a Thursday night speech to the nation that is expected to touch on the president\u2019s continuing claims of widespread voter fraud.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not an election denier,\u201d Clayton told ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., while dodging a series of questions about who won the 2020 election. \u201cJoe Biden was certified as the president of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Johnson appeases holdouts and unfreezes House floor<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have substantial work to do in improving our electoral processes. It\u2019s part of national security, and I feel strongly about that,\u201d Clayton added.<\/p>\n

Another blockbuster hearing was happening at the same time Wednesday morning, as the Senate Judiciary Committee considers Trump\u2019s nomination of Todd Blanche to be attorney general.<\/p>\n

Democrats on the Intelligence panel said they were frustrated by Trump\u2019s upending Clayton\u2019s scheduled confirmation hearing in June, blaming the president for tanking efforts to reauthorize what\u2019s known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which has now been dark for more than a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t think of any other instance in the history of this committee where a president sends a nominee up, and then in a bipartisan way, we say we really want to move heaven and earth to get this nominee moving through quickly because of the importance of the position \u2014 and then the president decided the Senate was moving too fast on his own nominee,\u201d Warner said.<\/p>\n

But Cotton said he believed Clayton was committed to continuing cuts at the ODNI to match Republicans\u2019 vision of a \u201clean and efficient organization to keep bureaucratic intelligence agencies at bay.\u201d<\/p>\n

He praised his work as a U.S. attorney, citing the indictment of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and saying Clayton had gone after \u201csome of the worst of the worst national security threats, including foreign enemies who put innocent Americans at risk and have American blood on their hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

As multiple senators pressed Clayton on who won the 2020 election, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said Clayton was \u201cnot being honest and forthright\u201d about the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election, but you ask to lead America\u2019s intelligence community? Isn\u2019t it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge the president\u2019s delusions?\u201d Ossoff asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Warner said he was \u201cbitterly disappointed\u201d with Clayton\u2019s responses about the 2020 election as well as Clayton saying he did not know about Gabbard\u2019s involvement in the FBI\u2019s raid of the Fulton County, Ga., election office.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried umpteen different ways to give you the ability to just acknowledge that Joe Biden was the president,\u201d Warner said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve acknowledged, senator, that Joe Biden was president,\u201d Clayton said at the end of the hearing.<\/p>\n

Read more Supreme Court justices emphasize need for security funding<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Jay Clayton took his seat before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, the scene was starkly different from 28 days ago. Back in June, just hours before Clayton\u2019s confirmation hearing for director of national intelligence was about to start, President Donald Trump abruptly ordered his nominee not to appear. This time around, Clayton was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"\nClayton defends subpoenas of journalists in tense confirmation hearing\u00a0 - American Industry Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=579\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Clayton defends subpoenas of journalists in tense confirmation hearing\u00a0 - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As Jay Clayton took his seat before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, the scene was starkly different from 28 days ago. 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