Republicans Revolt Over Trump's DNI Pick | Bakari Sellers On CNN

[00:00:01]Tonight, Donald Trump's interim pick for national intelligence director may soon be out of a job after facing bipartisan backlash for selecting Bill Pulte, who has no national security experience.

[00:00:12]Today, Trump announced that he'll be nominating US attorney Jay Clayton for the role. Clayton is currently serving as the top prosecutor for the Southern District of New York and has served as the SEC chairman in the Trump first term. But, Trump's elevation of Pulte continues to have consequences for his administration. In protest of Pulte's appointment today, House Democrats voted to block the temporary renewal of a powerful surveillance law. They were joined by 19 Republicans. Ahead of the 20th nation's 250th birthday and just as the World Cup is kicking off here in the US, failure of that bill could limit what the intelligence agencies can do to collect information abroad. Now, Trump says that he intends to install an acting director until Clayton is confirmed. Um and Bill Pulte, uh I think is itching really to get into the job as quickly as possible because the clock is ticking. But, I I have questions about um whether this is actually even going to resolve the problem for Trump because um you know, Clayton's going to get a look.

[00:01:16]He's going to get a look from Republicans and from Democrats, but if he puts Pulte in there Pulte in there to start messing around at DNI, that could still be a problem.

[00:01:26]>> I agree with that um and we'll have to see how the members of Congress react to that possibility. I think uh the Senate will have a hearing for Clayton on either June the 16th or 17th.

[00:01:37]Uh and Pulte is scheduled to start on on the 19th.

[00:01:41]So, it it's a tight time frame. Senator Thune said today it would be hard to get him confirmed uh that quickly, but they were going to do everything they could.

[00:01:48]Interestingly, I think if the president had made this announcement last night, it might have saved him some grief uh uh on the House floor today because it would have shown that he was being responsive to some of the concerns, but the real disaster here is going dark on FISA. I mean, not being able to pay attention to what these foreign terrorists would like to do to the United States is a national security emergency.

[00:02:09]>> So, it doesn't So, actually FISA doesn't go dark. It doesn't actually go dark until March of 2027. Their authorities that are in place and they can still collect information for the next year.

[00:02:18]>> goes dark tomorrow?

[00:02:19]>> That is the way that it currently works.

[00:02:21]I've talked to national security officials. It doesn't actually go dark right away. You still There is an apparatus in place for them to collect information. When it The reason why 702 and FISA The reason why this is so important right now when it comes to Pultie is Pultie does not have any national security experience and the role of DNI is 702. Is FISA. And the fact that we would be entrusting him with a critical national security tool raises a lot of questions and it should raise a lot of questions with Congress immediately. He should not be in that position in the first place at all. Any day serving. I understand that there's someone else that's new that's going to come in and that will be able to be confirmed and is has some sort of national security experience, but the reality is that there is a big fear that a political hack like Pultie >> Oh, he's not a political >> He's absolutely He's He's absolutely He's It doesn't matter what It doesn't It doesn't matter President Trump trusts him. That's actually the problem. The problem is is that he does President Trump's bidding and he has been the person who has gone after President Trump's enemies. Does not The statute says that the person to be nominated and to be a DNI has needs to be someone with a national security background and Pultie has zero national security experience.

[00:03:40]Zero.

[00:03:41]>> Jake Clayton's a great guy. He's going to do a great job as DNI. Jake Clayton and I debated at the Harvard Kennedy School.

[00:03:47]>> Pultie >> Pultie has no national security experience. He should not be in the building ever.

[00:03:51]>> And and I will say this, Jake Clayton's going to do a great job. Jake Clayton and I debated Democrats in 2024 at the Harvard Club and we won against the Democrats. He's a he's a terrific guy and he does have security.

[00:04:04]>> Okay. Well, let me Is it 100% like they can keep cuz to me that that actually changes the conversation here. If it's if it's true that these authorities still exist for several months on data collection. Actually makes me feel a little better cuz I've been under the impression that this was sort of a deadline >> Yeah, the four yes. They're they are allowed to collect some information. It doesn't just go dark overnight.

[00:04:25]>> Let me play just on the question of Clayton and why Trump might have thought, okay, maybe I can work with this guy. Here's an interaction that he had earlier this week on CNBC and strangely it's about California's election practices. He's in the Southern District of New York, but he's talking here about California.

[00:04:46]Listen.

[00:04:48]>> Can you give me an idea of what's happening in California right now?

[00:04:55]>> No, I actually can't which I think is the problem. On the integrity side, we're doing an absolutely terrible job and the American people are right to question it. How come we can have an audit trail in every other aspect of our lives that's important?

[00:05:11]>> Here's the issue. California's election law allows ballots postmarked by election day.

[00:05:16]>> I mean that doesn't sound like fraud.

[00:05:17]That you can argue whether the law makes sense, but that doesn't sound like a fraudulent situation.

[00:05:22]>> a great there's a great phrase, opportunity for fraud.

[00:05:27]>> One of the things we know about what Trump want wanted Bill Palti to do was to investigate what he calls election fraud which is based on frankly no evidence and lies. So to hear Jay Clayton say that kind of out of the blue frankly, uh it seems to be music to Trump's ears in this moment.

[00:05:49]>> I mean, I I think that that Jay Clayton is light-years better in terms of qualification than Bill Pulte. And I think that's where we are. I mean, I think the bar was really low with Bill Pulte. I think that you clearly articulated why he should not be in that position. Having no national security experience and being DNI, I mean, it sounds like Tulsi Gabbard, right? So, we didn't want to go down that path.

[00:06:12]>> She was a military officer. Forgive me for saying that.

[00:06:15]>> Well, she was a military >> And you know what's crazy?

[00:06:17]That bar is >> low, and I mean, remember what Congress doesn't get you too far. But, I will say that she was more qualified than Bill Pulte. So, thank you for helping me make my point. I think there is more of a political salient point as well that I just think that that as we go through this primary cycle and Donald Trump continues to check off these primary victories, right? And in choosing individuals, we're seeing that at large, he's losing his grip of power in Washington, D.C. Because there are individuals who are now willing to buck the president of the United States. I think you saw that today. I think you wouldn't have necessarily seen that four, five, six months ago. I mean, during the break, we were talking about senators that are uncontrollable. That That number of senators is growing exponentially. I mean, now you have one of the more powerful senators in Washington, D.C. who is simply not going along with it, who is Cornyn and is >> Just Just to your point, here's what Cornyn said in a new interview. He said, "I think it's going to be a pretty bumpy ride for the next seven months." He says, "It does some give some of us a little freedom and certainly leverage."

[00:07:16]Um he says, "We've got some cards to play."

[00:07:18]>> I mean, McConnell, Cornyn, Tillis, that's three votes. Cassidy. Cassidy.

[00:07:24]So, yeah, that's four votes. That's four votes that the president simply cannot just wave his magic wand and say simply come to the White House and vote this way or tweet about them because they could give a care less. And so, I think that the way that the governance is going to happen over the next year. And this This actually the most important issue we're probably going to talk about, which is FISA, the role of FISA, you know, what happens to it with the World Cup happening, all of these things about safety and security. This is probably the most important issue facing the American public, and right now we have some independence within the Republican Party, which is something I couldn't say even 4 months ago.

[00:07:57]>> All right, next for us, breaking news.

[00:07:59]The president is trying to