WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tuesday evening, the U.S. Senate voted 51-47 to confirm Jay Clayton as the nation’s next Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
This confirmation vote Tuesday follows a procedural vote Monday to advance the nomination, 51-43.
Clayton has served as the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York since 2025. He previously served as the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 2017 to 2020.
Once sworn in, Clayton will serve as the president’s permanent replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down from the Cabinet post in June.
Since then, President Trump’s controversial interim pick, Bill Pulte, has led the office — making rounds of firings within the roughly one-month period that he’s been in the role.
The road to Clayton’s confirmation has been anything but simple.
Earlier this summer, Republicans thought they had found a way to replace Pulte with Clayton and also defuse a fight with Democrats over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a crucial foreign surveillance law.
That was until a Truth Social post from President Trump in mid-June, where he said he would not approve FISA without the SAVE America Act along with it. The post upended weeks of negotiations over Clayton’s nomination — and extended Pulte’s time as interim intelligence director.
In recent weeks, Democrats and even some Republicans expressed concerns about Pulte’s lack of national security experience.
“Pulte is unqualified, full stop,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in June.
“Pulte doesn’t have an ounce of national security experience or an ounce of integrity,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
“Pulte is totally incompetent and he is the reason FISA is not even being considered,” said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.
“I think he’s incompetent sycophant and not the right person to lead DNI,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
Several Democrats initially voiced support for Clayton. But during a recent confirmation hearing, Clayton refused to say Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Leading up to Tuesday’s confirmation vote, many Democrats said they would not vote for confirmation due to his inability to answer the question.
