WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Thursday verified Representative John Ratcliffe, a strong political ally of President Donald Trump, as director of nationwide intelligence, however by a far slimmer margin than his predecessors as the leading U.S. spy.
FILE PICTURE: U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee nomination hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 5,2020 Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Ratcliffe was verified by 49 to 44, with all “yes” votes coming from Trump’s fellow Republicans and all “no” votes from Democrats. The last DNI, previous Republican Senator Dan Coats, was approved by 85-12, but ended up having an uneasy relationship with Trump.
Ratcliffe has far less intelligence experience than any previous director of National Intelligence, a post produced 15 years ago to run the nation’s 17 intelligence companies in a more unified method the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
It was the 2nd time Trump suggested Ratcliffe for the post. He was the most junior