Some GOP senators unsure of intel chief nominee
WASHINGTON — Republicans were seen as hesitating Monday to embrace President Donald Trump’s choice for the director of national intelligence, and some privately expressed doubts about his potential confirmation, echoing concerns of experts and Democrats that he was too inexperienced and too partisan.
Mr. Trump’s pick, Rep. John Ratcliffe, R- Texas, could face an uphill battle, Senate Republicans said in private conversations. Several said they wanted to keep the intelligence post apolitical, and Mr. Ratcliffe will need to show he can move beyond the die- hard conservative persona that has made him a star in the House and on Fox News but less well- known among senators who will decide whether to confirm him.
Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee, including its chairman, Richard Burr of North Carolina, said they were unfamiliar with the congressman.
Republican committee member Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine, who helped craft the 2004 law that created the position of director of national intelligence, said the job should be filled by someone “with the integrity and skill and ability to bring all the members of the intelligence community together.”
The cool reception from members of the president’s own party reflected the split at hand: For what is supposed to be perhaps the most nonpartisan job in Washington, Mr. Trump selected one of the capital’s fiercest political warriors.
One of Mr. Trump’s most ardent defenders, Mr. Ratcliffe was elected to Congress in 2014 after mounting a conservative primary challenge to a 17- term Republican incumbent, Ralph Hall. Mr. Ratcliffe had served as a United States attorney in Texas and as the mayor of Heath, Texas.
Mr. Ratcliffe’s main intelligence experience has come as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, which he joined this year. But his record is one of fierce combat in the most partisan intelligence and judicial fights. A relentless critic of the Russia investigation, he ably challenged Robert S. Mueller III during his House testimony last week and has cast doubt on the CIA’s finding that Moscow favored Mr. Trump in the 2016 election.
With Sen. Rand Paul, RKy., almost certain to oppose any nominee to the position, Republicans can afford to lose only two more yes votes if Democrats line up against the nomination.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R- Fla., a member of the intelligence panel, said he liked Mr. Ratcliffe but acknowledged that he could have difficulty attracting broad Senate backing because of his reputation as a partisan. A critical function of the director, Mr. Rubio noted, is “to make sure that the entire intelligence community is working in an apolitical way to arrive at a set of facts that policymakers can make decisions on.”
Democrats said Monday that they were worried that Mr. Ratcliffe would do little to push back against the Justice Department’s review of the origins of the Russia inquiry, for which Mr. Trump gave Attorney General William Barr broad power to declassify intelligence. Democrats also said they had concerns that Mr. Ratcliffe would not stand up to Mr. Trump when his views on Iran or North Korea were at odds with the assessment of intelligence analysts.