In exchanges with multiple Democratic senators during a Wednesday Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing, Director of National Intelligence nominee Jay Clayton repeatedly refused to state aloud that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
The line of questioning began when Ranking Member Mark Warner (D-VA), asked Clayton if Biden won in 2020. Instead of answering directly, Clayton dodged the question and said he is “not an election denier” and that “Joe Biden was certified as the president of the United States.”
Warner, who seemed satisfied with Clayton’s non-answer, did not press him further.
When Warner asked if he would commit to not interfering in U.S. elections, Clayton responded that “the role is to deal with foreign interference in U.S. elections, which is something I’m gravely concerned about, but that’s the role.”
Sen. Angus King (I-ME) then grilled Clayton about the 2020 election, asking him again who won the presidency that year.
“I’m going to give you the same answer,” Clayton responded. “The answer to the chairman was, he asked me if I was an election denier. I am not an election denier. Joe Biden was certified as the president. He went through his process. We went through our electoral process.”
“That’s not an answer to the question,” King responded, to which Clayton said that he is here “to talk about my qualifications.”
The exchanges got increasingly absurd, as senators pushed for a straight answer and Clayton continued to act as if he’d already provided one.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) asked Clayton to say why Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 election, and again Clayton refused to say explicitly that Biden won the election.
“I’m going back to my constitutional law here, but I don’t want to continue to have a debate about this, but I believe he had the most electoral votes,” Clayton responded.
Kelly then explained that his concern lies with Clayton’s inability to disagree with Trump.
“You’re going to be in a room with him many times, and at times you should have a difference of opinion, and if you can’t disagree with him when he’s not in the room, are you going to be able to disagree with him when you’re sitting across from him in the Oval Office or the Situation Room?” Kelly added.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) then took up the same line of questions. Again, Clayton dodged on who won in 2020, saying that he was “not going to do this with you” and that he would not “engage in political theatre.”
Clayton was repeatedly grilled with questions about election integrity — and about the 2020 election specifically — because the role of DNI under Tulsi Gabbard, and more recently, under her successor, interim DNI Bill Pulte, has been used as a way to carry out President Trump’s call to “nationalize elections” and resurface 2020 election fraud claims.
The concern for Democrats around elections is that, if confirmed, Clayton will continue to use the position to advance the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign to interfere in election administration and sow seeds of doubt about the integrity of the country’s election system.
During her tenure, Gabbard investigated and resurfaced baseless claims regarding the 2020 results. She was involved in and present on site during the FBI’s raid of a Fulton County election hub in January of this year, reportedly at the explicit direction of Trump. She was also involved in the seizure of voting machines in Puerto Rico, again, as a way to materialize evidence of voter fraud.
Pressed by Ossoff about Gabbard’s actions, Clayton said he became aware of her presence at the Fulton County raid when he met with the senator on Tuesday.
“I had not thought about it until you brought it to my attention yesterday,” Clayton said.
“Your answers lack credibility,” Ossoff replied. “Your testimony lacks credibility. You’re being evasive and you’re not being candid or forthright. And everybody across the country is going to watch this and know that.”
After the senator’s time expired, Warner followed up, saying Clayton surely knew about the Gabbard incident and seemed oddly unprepared for questions about her tenure.
“It strains credibility — and I trust you, I know you — but it strains credibility to think that you were not aware of Director Gabbard’s intervention in the domestic election activities in Fulton County, and that that was subject of a great deal of consternation and review,” Warner said.
Despite the pushback on election integrity matters, the hearing mostly proceeded smoothly, with Warner and other Democrats going out of their way to praise Clayton for his tenure at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
These guys could show up in a hockey mask with a machete and still get confirmed on a party line vote. They know the GOP is a bunch of spineless Trump lickspittles now so they don’t have to care what the Democrats ask. Just obfuscate and run out the clock and they’ll still be approved regardless.
Parroting Trump’s preferred story instead of facts should really be a disqualification for being the head of ODNI. If you’re sole reason to take this job is because you want to protect POTUS then you’re not the right fit for the job.
If the Election Denial Lie is entrée to Trumpian GOP Kakistocracy, it should also be the closed door to any Dem acceptance action or vote. The first lie is the hardest; anything afterward is marginally easier and easier.
Yes, Mr. Clayton. We are talking about your qualifications for the job. One such qualification is to not indulge in thoroughly debunked conspiracy theories, whether out of ignorance, fear, or a desire to please your thin-skinned boss.
You have failed this requirement, and are not qualified for the position.
This is not election theater. This is a simple bright line litmus test. Like Sen. Kelly said, if you can’t say that Joe Biden won the election in 2020, them you are, effectively, an election denier and cannot be trusted to act in the interests of the United States of America, that you are not capable of fulfilling your sworn oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
Maybe they should ask him where it says that he is swearing an oath to the President of the United States of America, coz I’m pretty sure that isn’t mentioned at all.
And John Warner, he has to say he trusts this guy, because he knows him. JFC on a flaming pogo stick, he’s lying to you right now, Senator, what makes you think you can trust him later when he doesn’t need you for anything?
Just JCF.