Trump’s pick for intel chief refuses to say who won 2020 election

Jay Clayton, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan who President Donald Trump tapped for director of national intelligence (DNI), repeatedly declined to clearly state who won the 2020 election during his confirmation hearing Wednesday.

Instead, like many of Trump’s recent nominees, Clayton claimed that “Biden was certified as the president of the United States.”

And while answering questions from multiple senators, he engaged in rhetorical gymnastics to avoid admitting that former President Joe Biden won — and, by extension, that Trump lost the 2020 contest.

Democrats have regularly posed that question to Trump’s nominees. They fear that, if a potential top official cannot answer a basic, factual question without offending the president, he or she may succumb to pressure to investigate previous races and potentially assist in efforts to overturn future elections.

It’s a legitimate concern. Trump has repeatedly claimed the 2020 election — the most heavily audited contest in U.S. history — was stolen from him. He has also attacked and alienated Republicans who disagreed with his claims or denounced his ongoing efforts to probe the results of that race.

During the confirmation hearing, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) slammed Clayton for refusing to explicitly answer the simple question: Was Biden the outright winner?

“One of your qualifications is you told us you’re going to tell the truth to power and you won’t even answer a simple question to tell the truth to power,” King said. 

At times, Clayton even completely refused to engage with the question.

“I’m not, you know, I’m not going to do this with you,” he responded to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.).

“This is a job interview. We have established you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee,” Ossoff said. “It’s a simple question.”

“I’m not going to engage in the theater,” Clayton said.

In response to questions from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Clayton said he was “not an election denier” but maintained that Biden was only “certified” as the victor.

Clayton’s answer is more important than it may ostensibly seem. The DNI is tasked with overseeing the U.S. intelligence community, which generally gathers and analyzes foreign intelligence to support U.S. national security. However, since returning to office, Trump has oriented the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) toward investigating the 2020 election. 

In fact, the intelligence community is expected to declassify information on alleged foreign interference in U.S. elections this week. 

On Thursday, Trump is slated to give a primetime speech in which he will likely use the declassified files to again push false claims of widespread voting fraud and foreign tampering with voting systems during the 2020 election.

Acting DNI Bill Pulte, one of Trump’s political attack dogs, has been heavily involved in the declassification effort, which is ultimately being overseen by a White House task force. 

When the president tapped Pulte, who has no intelligence experience, to take the reins of the ODNI last month, Trump ordered him to look into “rigged” elections.

Despite saying he is not an election denier, earlier this year Clayton spread conspiracy theories and misinformation about California primary elections.

Asked about those claims during the confirmation hearing, he did not take the opportunity to clarify or correct them. 

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Clayton about his former assertion that “one group” may not be using mail voting honestly. “You basically said you got a group out there who are election bandits. Who are we talking about?” the senator asked.

“Now, I would like to see where you’re pulling those quotes from, because I’ve been very careful with my words on this. I’ve been very careful,” Clayton claimed. “I’d like to see the whole passage.”

Specifically, in a June interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box about California’s recent election, Clayton said: “Mail-in voting being used by one group and not another. Whether it’s being used honestly, or honestly or dishonestly, is a question everyone is asking.”

Clayton’s hearing Wednesday came weeks after Trump delayed his previously scheduled confirmation hearing as part of another attempt to pressure lawmakers into passing the SAVE America Act, a massive anti-voting bill.