US President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday evening (Wednesday night CET) that he intends to nominate former Director of the US Secret Service (DNI) and former Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe to the position of Director of the Central Intelligence Service (CIA). Press agencies inform about it. The nomination must still be approved by the Senate, where Republicans won a majority in elections this month.
“I look forward to John becoming the first person ever to hold both of our top intelligence posts,” Trump said in a statement. “He will be a fearless fighter for the constitutional rights of all Americans while ensuring the highest level of national security and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,” the president-elect emphasized.
Ratcliffe was confirmed as intelligence chief in May 2020, eight months before Trump left office. However, the former House member and Texas state representative did not receive the support of any Democrats in the Senate at the time.
Already in the DNI role, Democrats and former intelligence officials accused him of declassifying intelligence information that Trump and his Republican allies were supposed to use to attack their political opponents, including Joe Biden, then Trump’s opponent in the fight for the White House, Reuters reminds. Ratcliffe’s office denied this.
Among a number of other nominations for his future administration, Trump also named Bill McGinley, who served as his cabinet secretary during Trump’s first term as president, as White House legal adviser.
Trump then chose his longtime friend and real estate investor Steven Witkoff as his special envoy for the Middle East. The AP noted that Witkoff is also a golfing partner of the president-elect and was with Trump when he was targeted in a second assassination attempt at his Florida golf club in September.
Source: www.tyden.cz
