Senate Intelligence gets its chance to grill John Ratcliffe

Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) will at last get his confirmation hearing to be President Trump’s next director of national intelligence (DNI) — a moment delayed for weeks by a coronavirus pandemic that has shut down much of the country.

Ratcliffe is expected to be grilled by members of both parties on the Senate Intelligence Committee over whether he will be an independent voice for intelligence. 

Critics say Trump is seeking to install a loyalist with Ratcliffe.

“While I am willing to give Mr. Ratcliffe the benefit of the doubt in the hearing, I don’t see what has changed since last summer, when the President decided not to proceed with this nomination over concerns regarding his inexperience, partisanship, and past statements that seemed to embellish his record – including some particularly damaging remarks about whistleblowers, which has long been a bipartisan cause on our committee,” Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Intelligence panel, said in a statement.

Warner was referencing Ratcliffe’s circuitous route to the nomination.

Trump first nominated Ratcliffe last year after Dan Coats resigned as intelligence chief, but his nomination derailed over concerns that he padded his resume and would be too partisan in the role.

In February, Trump announced his intention to again nominate Ratcliffe, and in the ensuing months he appeared to bolster his support among GOP senators, starting with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who was initially cool to Ratcliffe’s nomination. Burr has since voiced his support for Ratcliffe and vowed to swiftly move forward to get him confirmed.

And it now appears Burr has the votes to do so. While Republicans have just a one-vote majority on the committee, centrist Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who faces a tough reelection race this year, has signaled that she is open to Ratcliffe’s nomination.

She said she pressed Ratcliffe in a private interview on intelligence matters and his “commitment to deliver objective analysis, regardless of the president’s views on an intelligence issue.”

“After questioning him in detail, I concluded that he does have the experience to meet the statutory standard to fill the position. His knowledge of cybersecurity is particularly important given the challenges our country faces,” Collins said in a statement Friday. “I look forward to his hearing on Tuesday.”

A Warner aide added that Warner intends to question Ratcliffe on the president’s purging of the intelligence community, as well as the need to preserve its independence to provide the best intelligence and analysis available to policymakers.

The hearing will reflect new safety precautions for the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Burr and Warner are likely to stay throughout the hearing, other senators are expected to enter in pairs to ask questions. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is slated to introduce the fellow Texan.

Ratcliffe first captured Trump’s attention when he fiercely grilled FBI officials, including special counsel Robert Mueller, while sitting on the House Judiciary Committee.

He also defended Trump forcefully during the House’s impeachment hearings. That defense is likely to be the focal point among Democrats who are worried that Trump is politicizing the intelligence agency.

Democrats are also expected to raise Ratcliffe’s experience.

Ratcliffe has served on the House Intelligence Committee for one term, but he is likely to lean heavily on his experience as a U.S. attorney, where he served as the office’s chief of anti-terrorism and national security. According to a review of a document the Senate panel has as part of their vetting process, Ratcliffe worked on 34 national security and terrorism related investigative matters between 2005 and 2008. 

Senators might have another reason to confirm Ratcliffe.

Trump earlier this year appointed Richard Grenell, his ambassador to Germany, to the DNI role in an acting capacity. Grenell did not have any intelligence experience prior to his appointment.

Grenell, an aggressive defender of the president who engages in Twitter spats with members of the media and critics, has shaken up and reorganized the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to the concern of both Democrats and Republicans who oversee intelligence matters.

Ratcliffe has sought to defend his record in the run-up to the hearing. He did two television appearances after his nomination to push back at arguments that he is unqualified and too political for the DNI position. 

“I have been handling national security issues as far back as 2005,” Ratcliffe told CBS News in one interview in late February. “I have spent four years at the Justice Department in charge of sensitive matters of national security, anti-terrorism investigations. For the last five years I have been legislating almost exclusively on national security issues.”

He also successfully passed bipartisan cyber-focused bills during his time on the House Homeland Security Committee. 

Ratcliffe has also faced criticism for statements that cast doubt on the credibility of the origins of the Russia investigation.

But since Ratcliffe’s criticisms, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded a sprawling investigation that found 17 “significant errors and omissions” by law enforcement officials in their efforts to obtain a wiretap on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Ratcliffe, who was one of the earlier GOP voices calling for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reform, is expected to point to these findings as he is pressed on his previous comments about bias and wrongdoing by some of the intelligence agencies that he would lead if confirmed.

Jordain Carney contributed.