Trump’s effort to appoint a stooge to oversee the nation’s intelligence community was dealt a defeat as Rep. John Ratcliffe has withdrawn from consideration to be DNI.
Trump tweeted:
Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media. Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019
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….John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country. I will be announcing my nomination for DNI shortly.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019
Ratcliffe was doomed by Republican senators, not the media
The media had nothing to do with why John Ratcliffe withdrew his name from consideration. Republican senators varied from lukewarm to openly expressing reservations about voting for the Texas Congressman with no intelligence experience to be the next Director of National Intelligence.
Trump forced Dan Coats out and picked Ratcliffe because the congressman was critical of Robert Mueller during the former special counsel’s testimony. Trump’s little fit toward the media was a classic example of the president’s failures always being the fault of others.
Ratcliffe probably didn’t have the votes to be confirmed in the Senate without a fight, so he bailed, and didn’t wait to be voted down, and the blame for this embarrassment belongs to the president who nominated him, not the media.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
