Trump Withdraws John Ratcliffe as Nominee for Director of National Intelligence

Ah darn. I thought he'd be good.

Previously it had been reported, and I think accurately, that Trump had either chosen or was leaning towards Fred Fleitz, of the Center for Security Policy.

But Trump seems to have decided against him. The Daily Beast, for example, reports that Trump has requested a list of all of the top intelligence managers, which is assumedly being collected for purposes of picking a new DNI. That suggests he's eliminated Fleitz from consideration, or else he'd just go back to his original first pick.

A friend who's an expert in this are is upset at this news of asking for a list of the top intelligence officials, because almost all of the people on that list are Deep State Obama operators. "Might as well just pick John Brennan and be done with it," he says.

Ugh:

It won't be Sue Gordon, says the NYT.

The backtrack leaves Mr. Trump without any obvious candidate to fill one of the country’s most important national-security jobs, heightening scrutiny on what will happen with Sue Gordon, Mr. Coats’s No. 2. Mr. Trump has already decided not to allow her to rise to the role of acting director of national intelligence when Mr. Coats steps down, according to people familiar with his plans.

The decision to circumvent Ms. Gordon, who has served as the principal deputy director in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, will probably upset Republicans and Democrats in the Senate who had expressed doubts about Mr. Ratcliffe.

Mr. Trump recently blocked Ms. Gordon from personally delivering an intelligence briefing after she arrived at the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Ratcliffe was hung out to dry, complain some Republican Congressmen:

posted by Ace of Spades at 02:56 PM

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