Overview
- President Trump announced on Wednesday that Jay Clayton will not appear at his scheduled Senate Intelligence Committee hearing until Jamie McDonald is confirmed to replace Clayton as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
- The postponement leaves Bill Pulte, a FHFA director with no intelligence background, in place as acting director of national intelligence and blocks the expedited path Republicans had used to try to keep him from serving.
- Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has lapsed and reauthorization efforts were disrupted because Democrats refused to support renewal while Pulte remained in the acting DNI role.
- Trump added that he will not approve any FISA renewal unless Congress also passes the SAVE America Act, a demand that makes bipartisan agreement on reauthorization much harder to achieve.
- The move has caused rare public friction between the White House and Senate Republicans, created operational and legal uncertainty for U.S. intelligence collection, and raises the risk of short‑term gaps in key foreign surveillance capabilities.