Top Democrat on Senate Intel panel pans Trump’s DNI pick
“The President has selected an individual without any intelligence experience to serve as the leader of the nation’s intelligence community in an acting capacity,” Warner said in a statement.
Warner argued that the reliance on an acting director, which allows the individual to avoid Senate confirmation, was an apparent effort to “sidestep the Senate’s constitutional authority to advise and consent on such critical national security positions, and flouting the clear intent of Congress when it established the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in 2004.”
Trump formally announced his decision to tap Grenell for the top intelligence post in a tweet on Wednesday night, saying he had “represented our Country exceedingly well.”
….for the wonderful job he has done, and we look forward to working with him closely, perhaps in another capacity within the Administration!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2020
Warner pledged that he would work to make sure “the work of our intelligence professionals is never interfered with or manipulated for political ends.”
“And at a time when the integrity and independence of the Department of Justice has been called into grave question, now more than ever our country needs a Senate-confirmed intelligence director who will provide the best intelligence and analysis, regardless of whether or not it’s expedient for the President who has appointed him,” he continued.
Grenell has served as U.S. ambassador to Germany since April 2018, when he was confirmed by the Senate in a largely party-line vote.
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