House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California joined fellow Democrats on Friday in opposing President Trump once again naming Rep. John Ratcliffe to be director of national intelligence.
“Intelligence should never be guided by partisanship or politics,” Mrs. Pelosi said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Congressman Ratcliffe has shown an unacceptable embrace of conspiracy theories and a clear disrespect and distrust of our law enforcement and intelligence patriots that disqualify him from leading America’s intelligence community.”
Mr. Trump announced earlier Friday that he has nominated Mr. Ratcliffe to become director of national intelligence, putting the Texas Republican in line for a top cabinet position.
The president previously tapped Mr. Ratcliffe seven months earlier to serve as DNI, but the congressman later withdrew from consideration amid concerns about his qualifications.
“The President is now ignoring these many serious outstanding concerns and letting politics, not patriotism, guide our national security,” Mrs. Pelosi said in the statement.
“We call upon the Senate to remember that they take an oath to protect America, not the President, and vote against this nomination,” she added.
Her concerns regarding Mr. Ratcliffe’s nomination were shared by fellow Democrats including Sen. Mark R. Warner of Virginia, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“The last time this nomination was unsuccessfully put forward, serious bipartisan questions were raised about Rep. Ratcliffe’s background and qualifications,” said Mr. Warner. “It’s hard for me to see how anything new has happened to change that,” he said in a statement.
Mr. Ratcliffe, 54, has represented parts of northeast Texas in Congress since 2015 and currently sits on the House Ethics, Judiciary and Intelligence Committees.
He was initially named last year by Mr. Trump to succeed Dan Coats, who stepped down as DNI last August. Joseph Maguire, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center under Mr. Trump, subsequently served as acting director of national intelligence until earlier this month when he was replaced in an interim basis by Richard Grenell, the administration’s former ambassador to Germany.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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