[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 123 (Tuesday, July 28, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4291-S4292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Walter Clayton

  Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, I speak today in support of Mr. Jay 
Clayton's nomination to be the next Director of National Intelligence.
  Earlier this month, Mr. Clayton appeared before the Senate 
Intelligence Committee, where he answered hundreds of written questions 
for the record and provided detailed testimony on his approach to 
serving in this new role. As part of these discussions, Mr. Clayton 
assured the committee that he would assist our efforts to return the 
Office of the Director of National Intelligence to its original size, 
scope, and mission.
  He also pledged to work with the committee to secure the essential 
funding the intelligence community needs. Based on the shortcomings 
that my committee staff identified, I project that any supplemental 
appropriations bill or reconciliation bill must include around $40 
billion for our intelligence Agencies. I look forward to working with 
Mr. Clayton to meet this vital need.
  Given his past professional experience, Mr. Clayton is well qualified 
to serve as the Director of National Intelligence. As the U.S. attorney 
for the Southern District of New York, Mr. Clayton went after some of 
the worst of the worst national security threats. He has overseen 
numerous high-profile cases, including the indictment of Venezuelan 
dictator Nicolas Maduro and the prosecution of an Iran-backed terrorist 
connected to multiple attempted terror attacks in the United States. 
Time and again, Mr. Clayton has worked hand in glove with our 
intelligence Agencies and counterterrorism personnel to put these 
savages behind bars and keep America safe.
  Based on Mr. Clayton's testimony and the many conversations I have 
had with him over the last few months, I can say with confidence that 
his reputation for leading with integrity precedes him. I am pleased to 
support his nomination, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of 
his confirmation.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I speak today in opposition to the 
nomination of Jay Clayton to be Director of National Intelligence. He 
has repeated baseless conspiracy theories about American elections, 
refused to acknowledge who won the 2020 election, and participated in 
an abusive investigation of American journalists while providing false 
testimony to Congress about that investigation.
  It has been clear for months that, under this administration, the 
main qualification to be DNI is the willingness to use the position to 
spread conspiracy theories about elections and to help Donald Trump 
make it harder for Americans to vote. Even before his nomination, Mr. 
Clayton decided he would show how eager he is to serve as Trump's 
election conspiracy wingman.
  Now, he is the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York. 
Yet we all saw him on television talking about elections in California 
and insisting, without any evidence, that America was doing a 
``terrible job'' with election integrity. I was especially alarmed by 
his conspiracy mongering about vote-by-mail. That is how my home State 
of Oregon has been voting successfully for years.
  On June 8, just a few days before he was nominated, Mr. Clayton was 
on television talking about how ``one group'' was using vote-by-mail 
``dishonestly.'' That is ridiculous. The first two Senators elected by 
mail were a Democrat and a Republican.
  Vote-by-mail benefits rural voters who live far away from polling 
stations. Vote-by-mail benefits older people who may not be able to 
drive. It has never been partisan--certainly not until Donald Trump, 
aided by people like Jay Clayton, made it a part of the attack on 
American democracy.
  Mr. Clayton didn't offer a shred of evidence to support his 
conspiracy theories, so I asked him point-blank: Who were these 
mythical election bandits? In his responses to written questions, he 
said he was only asking questions. That is the stock-in-trade for 
conspiracy theorists. The moment they are asked to provide some 
evidence--any evidence--for claims, they fall back on: I was just 
asking questions. That is my excuse.
  It is fundamentally dishonest. It is also behavior that shouldn't be 
tolerated in someone responsible for providing Congress and the public 
assessments based on actual intelligence.
  Now, as we all saw during his disastrous nomination hearing, Mr. 
Clayton also refused to acknowledge the simple fact about Joe Biden 
winning the 2020 election. Everybody knows the truth here. The only 
reason to avoid the question is to satisfy the Trump ego. But that is 
what Mr. Clayton did, signaling to Donald Trump and the whole country 
that he is never going to stand up to Donald Trump--not ever.
  I am also deeply concerned about Mr. Clayton's role in the abusive 
subpoenas issued to the journalists at the New York Times. Mr. Clayton 
is the U.S. attorney for the Southern District. He signed the 
subpoenas. He is responsible for this effort to intimidate the press. 
He is also responsible for the numerous mistakes and errors committed 
by the attorneys under him, which even included a subpoena to a 
journalist's mother. This whole mess came out in a court hearing last 
week, where not only did the judge criticize the government attorneys, 
but the government itself--the government itself--acknowledged its 
numerous errors and mistakes before eventually withdrawing the 
subpoenas.
  All that is bad enough, but it also raises serious questions about 
Mr. Clayton's testimony to the Intelligence Committee that I sit on.
  Eight days before that court hearing in which the government 
acknowledged its mistakes, Mr. Clayton testified repeatedly that the 
government had followed all the required procedures.
  That was obviously false. The only question is whether Mr. Clayton 
knew it, at the time, that his testimony was false. If he didn't know, 
then he had no idea what his own office is doing, despite having signed 
the subpoena, which isn't a great justification for somebody to lead 
the intelligence agencies.
  If he did know, then he may have willfully misled Congress. This is a 
vitally important question that the Senate should continue to look at, 
rather than rushing to confirm Mr. Clayton.
  Now, there are other examples of how Mr. Clayton is willing to say 
anything in defense of Donald Trump. In May, he went on television and 
defended the decision to immunize Donald Trump and his family from a 
tax audit. He said: It was a ``pretty good deal for the government.''
  Well, it was certainly a good deal for Donald Trump and the family, 
but it wasn't so great for everyday Americans who don't control the 
IRS. And it wasn't a good deal for government either.
  In fact, a judge recently found that the so-called ``settlement'' was 
``improper,'' had ``no viable basis in law or fact,'' and was an 
abdication of the government's ``responsibility to zealously defend the 
interests of the United States.''
  Yet Mr. Clayton was happy to go on television and defend the 
corruption.
  Finally, as U.S. attorney, Mr. Clayton has been the lead of the 
administration's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. He was responsible 
for the inexcusable release of information on Epstein's victims.
  As for his other actions related to the investigation in the Epstein 
files, he has refused to say. Someday, there will be transparency about 
how this administration handled the Epstein case, and Mr. Clayton's 
full role--his full role--is going to come out.
  Jay Clayton has no business being confirmed for this role. He has 
repeatedly demonstrated his eagerness to support Donald Trump's 
conspiracy theories and corruption. He participated in the abuse of the 
justice system to try to intimidate the press, and he has provided 
false testimony to Congress during his own confirmation hearing.
  Tonight, I urge Senators to oppose this nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.

[[Page S4292]]

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. BARRASSO. I ask unanimous consent to start the vote immediately.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.