Trump puts Jay Clayton DNI nomination ON HOLD

[00:00:00]At Capitol Hill, President Trump's pick to lead national intelligence, Jay Clayton, was set to face questions from Senate lawmakers at his confirmation hearing today until the president pulled the plug. National News Desk's Matt Galka joining us live with more on this.

[00:00:13]And clearly this was very sudden, so what happened, Matt?

[00:00:17]>> Yeah, it sure does sound very sudden. A Senate hearing for DNI nominee Jay Clayton was scheduled for today. The president says that's not happening now.

[00:00:25]He says he doesn't want it to happen until Clayton's replacement for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, is approved by the Senate.

[00:00:32]Now, the other layer to all of this has to do with who was supposed to be the acting DNI, Bill Polty. Polty is the current director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and both Republicans and Democrats had questioned his credentials to run the intelligence agency. Polty's appointment also led to a foreign surveillance law called FISA to expire because Democrats refused to vote for that program as long as Polty was there.

[00:00:56]Now, Clayton's nomination was supposed to resolve many of those issues. But that seems off the table now. President Trump wrote in part on Truth Social, "The Democrats are saying they will vote against FISA, so the Republicans wound up having fulfilled their commitment, but Democrats broke the deal." Trump also wants a FISA extension paired with his voting overhaul known as the Save America Act, something Republican leaders in the Senate so far have said is unrealistic. Reporting in Washington, I'm Matt Galka for the National News Desk, America's News Now.