{"id":13733,"date":"2026-07-16T15:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/trumps-intelligence-pick-pressed-on-2020-election-defends-handling-of-new-york-times-subpoenas\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:01:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:01:28","slug":"trumps-intelligence-pick-pressed-on-2020-election-defends-handling-of-new-york-times-subpoenas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/trumps-intelligence-pick-pressed-on-2020-election-defends-handling-of-new-york-times-subpoenas\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s intelligence pick pressed on 2020 election, defends handling of New York Times subpoenas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Donald Trump\u2019s nominee for director of national intelligence faced pointed pushback from Senate Democrats Wednesday over his answers about the 2020 election results and broader election security concerns ahead of this year\u2019s midterms.<\/p>\n

Jay Clayton, who currently serves as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee that former president Joe Biden was \u201ccertified\u201d president in 2020 after the election commenced, but would not outright say Biden won when asked multiple times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not an election denier,\u201d Clayton contended in the hearing. But the answer was not satisfactory for multiple senators who got into back-and-forths with Clayton over his responses.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election, but you ask to lead America\u2019s intelligence community?\u201d said Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. \u201cIsn\u2019t it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge the president\u2019s delusions? We know, you know, everybody in this room knows the truthful answer to that question. Why can you not give it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Election security has become a flashpoint at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as the agency has grown involved in Trump\u2019s effort to revisit the 2020 election. Former DNI Tulsi Gabbard appeared at a February FBI search of a Georgia election facility and oversaw a review of Puerto Rico voting machines, while Trump more recently authorized acting DNI Bill Pulte to declassify 2020 election records.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The activity has fueled concerns that ODNI, which manages America\u2019s intelligence apparatus that is meant to predominantly track and counter overseas threats, is being drawn further into Trump\u2019s election claims. On Thursday night, the president is expected to unveil what the administration says is evidence of foreign interference in the 2020 election and vulnerabilities in voting machines.<\/p>\n

Throughout his testimony, Clayton asserted the job of ODNI is to focus on foreign intelligence threats and not domestic matters.<\/p>\n

Days before his June 11 nomination, Clayton spoke on CNBC and appeared to criticize the nation\u2019s election administration processes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the [election] integrity side, we are doing an absolutely terrible job, and the American people are right to question it. How come we can have an audit trail in every other aspect of our lives that\u2019s important?\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, questioned why Clayton opined on those matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the record, I wish you would share any evidence you have that asserts that there was any problem of voter fraud significant enough to change the results of an election in this country,\u201d King said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked by King whether there is a voter fraud problem in the nation, Clayton said, \u201cI don\u2019t think we can say definitively whether there is or is not until we have better processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

On cybersecurity, he said that the topic was a top-of-mind issue for him, especially on election influence matters. He said he would commit to assessing whether ODNI\u2019s cyber and foreign influence components \u2014 which were downsized under Gabbard \u2014 should be resourced again.<\/p>\n

In his current position, Clayton oversees one of the nation\u2019s most prominent prosecutorial offices. He previously chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump\u2019s first term, and he spent more than two decades at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, focusing on corporate transactions and capital markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clayton argued that he worked closely with intelligence and law enforcement on terrorism, espionage, cyber threats and illicit finance cases during that work history. He has no prior experience working inside the intelligence community. Clayton\u2019s office is notably prosecuting deposed Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife on narcoterrorism, drug-trafficking and weapons charges following their capture by U.S. forces in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If confirmed, he would inherit an intelligence office already undergoing significant workforce changes. Pulte, a major Trump ally who led the administration\u2019s controversial mortgage fraud investigations last year, has initiated multiple rounds of personnel cuts and received broad permission from Trump to declassify records, prompting concerns from former officials about the exposure of sensitive intelligence capabilities.<\/p>\n

Clayton was also questioned during the hearing about his office issuing subpoenas last Friday seeking grand jury testimony from four New York Times journalists who reported that Trump returned from a NATO summit aboard an older Air Force One after security officials raised concerns about the\u00a0Qatari-gifted aircraft that was meant to replace it. The Times reported that the newer plane lacked some of the prior aircraft\u2019s advanced security features, including antimissile capabilities. Some subpoenas were delivered to the journalists\u2019 homes.<\/p>\n

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., criticized the subpoenas as an attack on press freedom and the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., also questioned how quickly they were issued, arguing that Clayton\u2019s explanation was difficult to reconcile with the fact that security concerns about the Qatari-donated plane had been known for months.<\/p>\n

Clayton defended his handling of the matter, saying he was \u201ccomfortable\u201d with the process. He declined to discuss specific details because the investigation into the disclosure of classified information remains ongoing, but said he consulted other lawyers before issuing the subpoenas and respects the First Amendment and the press\u2019s role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to get into the details. But what I can tell you is that we followed the procedures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trump nominated Clayton last month after his decision to install Pulte as acting intelligence chief drew resistance from Democrats and some Republicans. Clayton\u2019s first scheduled hearing was abruptly postponed after Trump said the Senate should first approve his chosen replacement at the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office in Manhattan and demanded action on unrelated election legislation.<\/p>\n

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chairman of the intelligence panel, told reporters after the hearing that he was disappointed in Clayton\u2019s responses and has \u201ca lot to think about.\u201d The senator previously noted that he has known Clayton for many years and believes \u201che is a capable public servant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very disappointed with a number of Mr. Clayton\u2019s answers. It\u2019s not in many ways reflective of the person that I\u2019ve worked with over the years,\u201d Warner said. \u201cI worry that there seems to be this criteria that this administration is putting out, about no one who\u2019s put up for any position can tell the truth about the 2020 election. That\u2019s deeply unsettling.\u201d\n\n<\/svg><\/p>\n<\/div>\n