Congressman John Ratcliffe‘s short-lived tenure as the Director of National Intelligence nominee has already come to an end. Less than a week after President Donald Trump announced Ratcliffe’s nomination—prompting intelligence officials to reportedly ask, “Who?”—the president returned to Twitter Friday to announce the lawmaker was withdrawing his candidacy. Citing Ratcliffe’s unfair treatment from the “LameStream Media,” the president said he “explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people…John has therefore decided to stay in Congress.”
“I was humbled and honored that the President put his trust in me to lead our nation’s intelligence operations and remain convinced that when confirmed, I would have done so with the objectivity, fairness and integrity that our intelligence agencies need and deserve,” Ratcliffe said in a subsequent statement about his decision to withdraw. “However, I do not wish for a national security and intelligence debate surrounding my confirmation, however untrue, to become a purely political and partisan issue. The country we all love deserves that it be treated as an American issue.”
Ratcliffe’s withdrawal doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise, given that his days-long stint as Trump’s DNI pick was quickly met with criticism and confusion about the congressman’s qualifications for the job. The Texas lawmaker, who demonstrated his loyalty to the president on the national stage with his combative questioning of Robert Mueller, was seemingly chosen for his partisan views over his intelligence experience—which, as it turns out, was pretty limited. Closer examinations of Ratcliffe’s career revealed the former Chief of Anti-Terrorism and National Security for the Eastern District of Texas’s claims of extensive anti-terrorism experience and having arrested “300 illegals in a single day” were wildly exaggerated, and many speculated that the obvious resume padding could hurt Ratcliffe’s chance of making it through the Senate confirmation process. Ratcliffe’s tenure on the House Intelligence Committee also seemingly failed to demonstrate his qualifications, as congressional and intelligence officials told the Washington Post the congressman was “disengaged” from the committee’s work. Ratcliffe reportedly failed to attend all but one of the committee’s foreign trips this year and “infrequent[ly]” visited the committee’s classified reading room, becoming known instead for “brief appearances at the weekly business meetings and hearings that the panel often conducts behind closed doors.”
While Democrats were quick to criticize Ratcliffe’s nomination as expected, even his Republican colleagues weren’t exactly giving him a ringing endorsement. “I truly have never met him,” Senator Susan Collins told Politico, while Sen. Marco Rubio acknowledged that while Ratcliffe was a “smart guy and a professional,” “I don’t know how my colleagues feel; obviously, we’re going to have some work to do.” Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr said only of Ratcliffe’s nomination: “When he’s nominated and we do an investigation, I’ll be happy to comment on what I think his qualifications are.” Per Axios, that tepidity likely contributed to the demise of Ratcliffe’s nomination, as the White House had reportedly received word that it would be a struggle for the nominee to get enough Republican votes to be confirmed.
Trump said on Twitter Friday that he would announce another DNI pick “shortly,” leaving it up in the air who will replace current DNI chief Dan Coats when he departs on August 15. And there are questions about who will even serve in the role in an acting capacity before the eventual nominee can be confirmed. The New York Times reports that the Trump administration is planning to block the natural successor to the role, DNI deputy director Sue Gordon, from serving as acting head, hoping instead to fill the position with a more overtly pro-Trump official. Gordon, a longtime career intelligence official, is respected by Republicans and Democrats alike, however—raising the possibility that the Senate confirmation for Trump’s eventual DNI nominee won’t be the only fight he’ll soon have on his hands. “It’s outrageous if the president is hoping to pass over this extremely qualified and experienced individual, the highest-ranking woman in O.D.N.I., in order to install a political loyalist as acting director,” Senate Intelligence Committee vice-chairman Mark Warner told the Times.
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