Former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe tapped to lead CIA

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President-elect Donald Trump plans to appoint former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe as director of the Central Intelligence Company, the Trump-Vance transition staff introduced Tuesday.

Ratcliffe, a fierce defender of the president-elect, represented Texas’ 4th Congressional District within the northeastern a part of the state till he was tapped to function Trump’s director of nationwide intelligence in 2020. His congressional seat was crammed by U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Sherman.

“John Ratcliffe has all the time been a warrior for Fact and Honesty with the American Public,” Trump mentioned in a press release. “He can be a fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Individuals, whereas guaranteeing the Highest Ranges of Nationwide Safety, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.”

The Republican-controlled Senate might want to verify Ratcliffe’s nomination when Trump takes workplace.

If confirmed, based on the announcement, Ratcliffe would grow to be the primary individual to have led each the CIA and nationwide intelligence. The CIA director manages the company’s actions — together with intelligence assortment, evaluation of international threats and covert motion campaigns — and reviews to the director of nationwide intelligence, who oversees the broader U.S. intelligence group.

Ratcliffe earned a popularity as one in every of Trump’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill, defending the president throughout his impeachment hearings, serving to push investigations into Hunter Biden and gaining notoriety for berating former particular counsel Robert Mueller throughout a congressional listening to.

He’s among the many first Texans tapped by Trump to serve in his second administration, out of a protracted listing of Texas Republicans with shut ties to the president-elect.

Trump additionally tapped billionaire Elon Musk, who lives in Texas, to move a “Division of Authorities Effectivity,” or DOGE, on Tuesday alongside former GOP presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy. DOGE, Trump mentioned, would “present recommendation and steering from exterior of Authorities” to “drive massive scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial strategy to Authorities by no means seen earlier than.”

Ratcliffe’s preliminary nomination to move nationwide intelligence was scuttled in 2019 after he withdrew his title for consideration amid a report by The Washington Submit that he had exaggerated elements of his biography, together with his position because the chief of an immigration crackdown whereas he was a federal prosecutor within the Jap District of Texas. Democrats additionally opposed his nomination, arguing he was not certified to supervise the intelligence group and elevating issues that he would use the place to Trump’s political profit.

Ratcliffe’s nomination to nationwide intelligence director received assist from Republicans, together with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee who mentioned on the time that Ratcliffe had the “private integrity and intelligence to have the ability to perceive the distinction between being a legislator and being the Director of Nationwide Intelligence.”

Ratcliffe defended his report, and Trump put him up for the job once more a number of months after he took himself out of rivalry. He was confirmed by the Senate, 49-44, in 2020.

“John did a superb job as DNI and I’ve each confidence he’ll lead the CIA higher than anybody in historical past,” Fallon mentioned in a textual content message on Tuesday after the announcement.

In June 2022, the U.S. Home committee investigating the occasions main as much as the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol revealed that Ratcliffe had warned White Home staffers towards pursuing efforts to overturn the 2020 election forward of the revolt.

“It felt it was harmful for the president’s legacy,” former White Home staffer Cassidy Hutchinson mentioned of Ratcliffe’s mindset in testimony to the panel. “He had expressed to me he was involved it may spiral uncontrolled and probably be harmful both for our democracy or the way in which issues have been going for [Jan.] 6.”

Ratcliffe was employed in 2004 as an assistant federal prosecutor within the Jap District of Texas, the place he was named chief of anti-terrorism. He was additionally elected mayor of Heath, a suburb simply east of Dallas, the place he had began a regulation apply.