Trump says Ratcliffe is no longer his pick for director of national intelligence
Source: CNN
(CNN)President Donald Trump says Rep. John Ratcliffe will no longer be nominated as director of national intelligence to replace Dan Coats.
"Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media," Trump wrote on Twitter.
"Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country. I will be announcing my nomination for DNI shortly."
Trump privately voiced concern in recent days about Ratcliffe's ability to be confirmed as the next director of national intelligence, according to two people who spoke with him. Trump had been assured by allies before selecting Ratcliffe that he would be an easy pick, and so the president was surprised when Ratcliffe started facing issues from senators who had their own concerns.
This story is breaking and will be updated
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/02/politics/trump-ratcliffe-dni/index.html
Here are the tweets:
Link to tweet
Link to tweet
not fooled
(5,801 posts)Was the opprobrium too much even for Hair Fuhrer?
Now the question is: will the next name put forth be someone worse or someone better?
Always an issue with this joker.
woodsprite
(11,900 posts)Sane Floridian
(18 posts)Brilliant!
pecosbob
(7,533 posts)Makes me want to move to Mars.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Used a word salad of a half time Governor and failed VP candidate . Lamestreammedia. Golllllyy.
madaboutharry
(40,181 posts)It wasn't the fact that Trump was pressured into withdrawing Radcliffe's nomination because Radcliffe is a fraud, a liar, and woefully unqualified, no....Trump has to blame "The LameStream Media" for being so mean.
Dear Democratic Presidential Candidates, Please keep focused on what really matters. Thank You, madaboutharry.
sheshe2
(83,623 posts)sinkingfeeling
(51,434 posts)about how the GOP treated Hillary and Mueller.
The Fat One knows even his party would reject Ratcliffe.
bucolic_frolic
(43,023 posts)Fix the spelling. Fat Hitler.
Thank you.
Watchfoxheadexplodes
(3,496 posts)Wonder what rats were hiding in old Radcliffs closet?
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)And was told no. The intelligence committee was not going to vote him thru.
Expect an explosion in a few hours.
Turbineguy
(37,280 posts)In trump terms.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)I imagine it was actually half an hour of hard truths and then the rest of the time angrily storming and fighting reality presented by various individuals and delegations before giving in.
dalton99a
(81,374 posts)BootinUp
(47,053 posts)Phoenix61
(16,992 posts)would be an easy pick? Guess it will be the one who needs to spend more time with his family.
Astraea
(464 posts)Next!
jmowreader
(50,524 posts)oasis
(49,317 posts)vlyons
(10,252 posts)nt
Chrysanthemum
(188 posts)iluvtennis
(19,821 posts)JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,314 posts)It had to be something else that caused Trump to drop Ratcliffe. "Unqualified" would not affect Trump's decision process.
keithbvadu2
(36,636 posts)Blames the media for his unqualified bootlicker.
llmart
(15,531 posts)"Lamestream Media" - Really? What are you? Ten years old?
Honestly, I don't know how much more of this embarrassment I can take.
Mc Mike
(9,111 posts)Also, I'm sure the evil lamestream media isn't going to put the replacement nominee through 'months of slander and libel and make things miserable for them and their family'. This was a one-off.
underpants
(182,574 posts)Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country.
Ilsa
(61,688 posts)Mulvaney picked Ratcliffe when he should have picked a sure-thing like Rep. Will Hurd.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)stupid fuck
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,283 posts)Another Trump nominee goes down in flames. This is a big one.
By Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent
August 2 at 4:13 PM
Well, that certainly didnt take long:
President Trump announced Friday that Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Tex.), his embattled pick to lead the nations intelligence community, was withdrawing from consideration and would remain in Congress.
The lawmaker was facing intense questions about padding his résumé and a lack of experience, which led to a lukewarm reception on Capitol Hill.
Trump said he would announce a new pick for director of national intelligence shortly.
In tweets, Trump said that Ratcliffe was being treated very unfairly by the media.
The fault, as always, lies with Trumps opponents and the media. The unfair treatment to which Trump refers was likely this story in The Post, which showed that Ratcliffes claims about his experience were seriously exaggerated.
Ratcliffe had asserted that as a U.S. Attorney, I arrested over 300 illegal immigrants on a single day. But that was false: He didnt arrest them; the relevant operation ended up charging only 45 poultry workers with low-level offenses; and people involved in it could not recall Ratcliffe playing a central role.
This comes after stories showing that his claims to have tried terrorism cases were also inflated.
The office of DNI has only existed since 2005, and before Trumps election had been filled by people with long careers of service in the military, the intelligence world or both. President George W. Bush appointed Mike McConnell, a Navy vice admiral who had been the director of the National Security Agency. President Barack Obama appointed James R. Clapper Jr., an Air Force lieutenant general who had run the Defense Intelligence Agency.
But those claims of Ratcliffes work stoppin terrorists and ropin illegals were almost the entirety of his qualifications for the job, other than six months sitting on the House Intelligence Committee.
....
Paul Waldman is an opinion writer for the Plum Line blog. Follow https://twitter.com/paulwaldman1
Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line blog. He joined The Post in 2010, after stints at Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and the New York Observer. Follow https://twitter.com/theplumlinegs
Cirque du So-What
(25,907 posts)More likely, some dirt has been found that is too egregious to overlook.
Mersky
(4,979 posts)Texas already has three Rs not running for reelection. tRumpers need to be able to ride on incumbencies like ratcliffe's. This way they won't have to shuffle, launder, lavish or rathole money around the state as much for the open seats. Perhaps won't get as many questions about income disparity in the 4th district, or current states of its superfund sites, etc.
I'll breathe a little easier until the next unqualified, partisaned-to-hell hack is nominated for DNI.
Ford_Prefect
(7,867 posts)and Moscow Mitch will sing the praises of anyone willing to show up for the job.