President Trump said on Thursday that he would nominate Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, to be the next director of national intelligence, after the president faced a revolt from lawmakers over his choice for an interim director without any relevant experience for the job.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump had been under pressure to move on from his decision to appoint Bill Pulte, a top housing official, as the acting director, replacing Tulsi Gabbard, who announced last month that she would step down<\/a> from the post.<\/p>\n The appointment of Mr. Pulte derailed the congressional reauthorization of one of the government\u2019s most powerful surveillance authorities.<\/p>\n But the announcement of Mr. Clayton, who is also a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to be nominated for Senate confirmation seemed unlikely to immediately solve Mr. Trump\u2019s problems with Congress.<\/p>\n The House on Thursday rejected a three-week extension of the law, which will expire at midnight on Friday.<\/a> With Congress now out of town, it would be difficult to schedule another vote before the deadline.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump, in a social media post, encouraged the Senate to confirm Mr. Clayton \u201cas soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFew people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,\u201d Mr. Trump wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mr. Clayton was recommended for the post by John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, according to a person familiar with the conversation. The current plan is for Mr. Pulte to continue to serve as the acting director until Mr. Clayton\u2019s nomination is reviewed by the Senate.<\/p>\n Mr. Pulte, the person said, will seek to shrink the office beyond the cuts Ms. Gabbard had made. Mr. Trump wants Mr. Clayton to lead a smaller office, more narrowly focused on coordination among the 18 intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n Senator John Thune, the Senate majority leader, got no warning about the announcement but spoke positively about the Mr. Clayton\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s considered to be a very qualified professional with a great skill set for managing a complex problem set,\u201d Mr. Thune said. \u201cWe will try to get him up and considered as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Since taking over the most high-profile federal prosecutor\u2019s office in the country in April 2025, Mr. Clayton has frequently golfed and socialized with the president, including at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump\u2019s estate and club in Florida.<\/p>\n Mr. Clayton was also tasked with overseeing much of the review of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. His prosecutors also brought a case against Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, then the president of Venezuela, who was captured by American military forces in January.<\/p>\n Mr. Clayton arrived at the Manhattan U.S. attorney\u2019s office at an unusual time for the proud institution, once nicknamed the sovereign district as a nod to its independence from Justice Department headquarters in Washington.<\/p>\n That independence was compromised almost immediately after Mr. Trump returned to the White House. He named Mr. Clayton to lead the office just two months after his top Justice Department officials instructed its prosecutors to abandon a high-profile corruption case against the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams.<\/p>\n