Senate tees up final vote on Jay Clayton intel chief nomination

Senate Senate tees up final vote on Jay Clayton intel chief nomination Comments: by Rebecca Beitsch - 07/27/26 6:28 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Rebecca Beitsch - 07/27/26 6:28 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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The Senate cleared a final procedural hurdle Monday night on President Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), teeing up Jay Clayton for a final vote this week.

The 51-43 vote to advance the nomination means the Senate could confirm Clayton as early as Tuesday night to be the nation’s director of national intelligence, booting acting official Bill Pulte from the role.

The vote comes shortly after Pulte announced over the weekend he had completed a fourth round of layoffs at the ODNI.

Trump announced Clayton’s nomination in June as senators of both parties fumed over Pulte being installed at the agency. Also the head of the Federal Finance Housing Agency (FHFA), Pulte used his role there to refer four different Trump foes for criminal prosecution on allegations of mortgage fraud.

Democrats refused to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to spy on foreigners located abroad, while Pulte remained in the post.

Though Democrats initially praised Clayton, Monday’s party-line vote comes after the minority hammered the nominee on his position on the 2020 election during his confirmation hearing earlier this month, a line of inquiry that comes after former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present for a search of the Fulton County, Ga., election offices.

Clayton responded to repeated questions from Democrats by saying that former President Biden “was certified” as president.

“I’m not an election denier,” Clayton had said.

“You refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election, but you ask to lead America’s intelligence community,” Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) said in one exchange.

“Isn’t it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge the president’s delusions?” the Georgia senator added.

Should Clayton be swiftly confirmed, it remains unclear whether the Senate will move quickly to renew Section 702.

The House has already adjourned for the summer and both chambers will not be in session simultaneously until September.

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