This was rumored earlier today [New York Times] and [Axios]. Now Confirmed.
President Trump has announced via Twitter that Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats is departing. He will be leaving office on August 15th, 2019. President Trump has announced the nomination of Representative John Ratcliffe to be the next head of the Office of Director of National Intelligence.
Representative John Ratcliffe is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and House Intelligence Committee. Ratcliffe is one of only a few people who has seen all of the unredacted DOJ and FBI evidence within the documents congress has previously asked the President to declassify.
Representative John Ratcliffe currently holds a top-level security clearance. John Ratcliffe is very even tempered albeit direct by natural disposition.
Ratcliffe’s nomination, and confirmation should be unremarkable.
However, due to the information that Ratcliffe already holds about the overall intelligence community operation in 2015 through 2019, we can expect the deepest part of the Deep State to immediately begin a process to impede any confirmation effort. Ratcliffe is a risk, and he will likely be controversialized in a political effort to block his nomination.
Earlier today Ratcliffe spoke to Maria Bartiromo about ongoing concerns around the DOJ, CIA, and FBI operations in 2016:
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The DNI change is simply about having the right person in the right job at the right time…
If Wray and/or Haskell have too much of the wrong kind of character baggage, appointing Ratcliffe to the DNI role will trigger resignations.
The past 3 years would have been physically and mentally demanding on anyone. Fatigue is more than enough of a reason for Coats to be moving on.
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True enough, and fair.
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Oh wait. Mitt almost certainly will not be a problem and might be a help during the confirmation process. Just noticed that Ratcliffe served on Mitt’s early stage transition team. Knowing that, we should be able to expect Never-Trumper Mitt to play nice this time.
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I hate to lose another seat but he seems like a really great person for the job!! Does the GOP have someone that can run in 2020?
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The Governor may replace with an electable replacement. The replacement would be able to get some grass roots support going, if time permits. But the replacement should probably have some RNC money behind them for the election. The Repubs want to protect Texas!
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You have put your finger on the crux of the problem. Too few Men of Honor or Patriots, Too Little Time.
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I hope everyone understands that the DNI oversees the CIA and the other intelligence agencies. 🙂 And the DNI reports to the President. 🙂 There’s been concern by some here about Gina Haspel. Ratcliffe will be her superior.
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James Clapper was Brennan’s nominal superior, but Brennan was clearly dominant. I believe the “Central” Intelligence Agency was originally supposed to be that overseeing agency, but it became unmanageable, and the President of the day created the DNI role to try to get it under control. Anyone know who it was?
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The 9/11 Commission proposed it, Bush enacted.
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Thanks for that info both of you.
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Always hate to lose a good congressman to an administrative position, but this pick no doubt has swamp critters and the Russian hoax perpetrators on edge, so it’s a good thing.
Now, how long before the left calls Ratcliffe a racist? I’ll give it til tomorrow.
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With ties to Putin.
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You can practically hear the Dems furiously digging for dirt on Ratcliffe.
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Has his high school yearbook gone through a full pre-examination yet? Deep State is probably rounding up rape “victims” as we write.
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Sundance, check this out:
Mollie
✔
@MZHemingway
Ken Dilanian, the Fusion GPS-connected NBC reporter who is highly implicated in the Russia collusion conspiracy theory, is tweeting his concern about John Ratcliffe’s nomination.
Ken Dilanian
@KenDilanianNBC
·
7h
John Ratcliffe, by one measure the second most conservative member of Congress, appears to believe that the Russia investigation was cooked up by Democrats who “committed crimes.” Now Trump reportedly is considering placing atop the US intelligence community.
Ken Dilanian Retweeted
Bobby Chesney
@BobbyChesney
The President does not get to pick an Acting Director of National Intelligence. 50 USC 3026(a)(6) provides that the Principal Deputy Director (in this case, the wonderful Sue Gordon) automatically serves in that capacity. See here:
(link: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/3026) law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50…
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Anyone know if this Chesney guy has a point??????????
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I’ll just bet she’s “wonderful”, if the swamp rats love her!
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So who picked Coats for that position? PDJT, no?
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I like this line from the NBC dude: “by one measure the second most conservative member of Congress”
Signalling to the Dem base. Conservative bad! Ratcliffe bad! Orange man bad! (cue the screeching noises from Invasion of the Body Snatchers when the snatched people recognize someone who hasn’t yet been snatched.)
I did a search on “Ratcliffe second most conservative” and there are several sources parroting this talking point. But I can’t find the source of the ranking. Well if he is the second most conservative person in Congress then that’s great, because I’m a conservative along with pretty much half the country. lol
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Yes, it looks like that is correct according to that doc, but it also says that:
“There is a Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.”
so if she doesn’t forward the nomination, it seems Trump can pick another. If he can fire her, I wonder who is next in line for the “Principal Deputy Director.
It also says that, “(4) The individual serving as Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence shall not, while so serving, serve in any capacity in any other element of the intelligence community.” I don’t know anything about these positions, but I wonder if the Sue Gordon is CURRENTLY serving in ANY capacity in ANY OTHER element of the intelligence that she will now be restricted from serving in while Coat’s position is vacant.
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one more thing, I wonder when the article linked by Bobby Chesney was written. Because according to this article written in April 2018, they were initiating changes to the structure.
https://www.c4isrnet.com/intel-geoint/2018/04/11/inside-odnis-plans-to-transform-through-reorg/
“In the eight months since Sue Gordon took over as the principal deputy director of national intelligence, the agency has been undergoing an organizational restructure aimed at modernizing and optimizing how the agency works.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is now in “phase 2” of its reorganization, after “phase 1” concluded in March and yielded insight into systemic sore spots and inefficiencies, according to intelligence community officials. This second phase is expected to end around July.”
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Remember his oath to the Constitution? Really Nancy? You should try to follow it yourself. If she is upset at Coats leaving then that is good news for patriots.
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Yes, if that is Pelosi’s opinion, then This Op is apparently Over The Target.
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Hypocrite.
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@Nancy
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!!!
Must be joking.
If Nancy and Cryin’ Chuck are both displeased, life is good.
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Trouble–Yes, Nancy, he will put patriotism over politics and that is what you and the dem clown bunch are afraid of.
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Well, it is one thing to be authorized to declassify and release information, but first one must gain access to the information, which is not directly under Barr’s control. The DNI is the direct superior to the various IC directors, who have that information under their control, so he can either be a big lever or a big chokepoint. Sounds like Coats was determined to be the latter.
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Was just hearing from someone that with 7 Dem Senators running for President, they are missing a lot of votes. I hope some miss Ratcliffe’s vote, but I’m doubtful.
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Won’t make any difference if they do – it’s the GOP senators that need to show up.
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“controversialized”
That one word encapsulates so well exactly what the Dems have been doing these past few years.
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I’m getting impatient. Where are the indictments?
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