Senate Democrats on Tuesday night blocked expedited confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the CIA, John Ratcliffe.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut opposed a deadline deal that would hasten the confirmation of Ratcliffe, a former director of national intelligence. Mr. Murphy’s refusal to give Mr. Ratcliffe an expedited confirmation vote could be the first of many objections by Senate Democrats to prolong the confirmation process for Mr. Trump’s Cabinet nominees.
Murphy’s opposition to Ratcliffe comes as Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has joined Senate Republicans in a bid to confirm that Trump Cabinet nominees, as evaluated by Senate Democrats, are “qualified” to lead the agency. This comes after the company expressed its intention to cooperate with the government.
Schumer: “Democrats have been very clear about our approach to President Trump’s nominees.” said in a statement Monday. “We do not rubber-stamp candidates who we believe are grossly unqualified or reflexively oppose candidates who deserve serious consideration.”
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, blasted Murphy’s opposition to Ratcliffe. Cotton told Ratcliffe: advanced Only three Senate Democrats opposed it and withdrew from the Senate Intelligence Committee. The committee’s top Democrat, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, also supported Ratcliffe.
“I don’t really understand the opposition to Mr. Ratcliffe,” Cotton said on the Senate floor. “He was confirmed by the Senate to be Director of National Intelligence. He was thoroughly vetted by the bipartisan process of the Senate Intelligence Committee.”
Cotton also said the Senate will work late into the night and into the weekend to confirm Ratcliffe and other Trump Cabinet nominees, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. said.
My message to obstructionist Democrats:
Don’t make any plans this weekend. We’re going to get President Trump’s nominee approved by Congress the easy way, or obviously the hard way. pic.twitter.com/DJrA09bTqk
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) January 21, 2025
“I hope there’s no one [senators] “We’re making plans for the weekend or evening because we’re going to finalize the nominees the easy way and the hard way, starting with Mr. Ratcliffe, then Mr. Hegseth, and then Mr. Noem,” Cotton said. Tuesday night on the Senate floor. “We’ve tried to work with the Democratic Party, but cooperation has been hard to come by. So I think it’s going to be a difficult path.”
“Should this country refuse to accept a Senate-confirmed CIA director for no good reason at such a dangerous time?” Cotton asked. “What this really means is that we are trying to play procedural games by dragging out all of these nominees, just as we are trying to quickly and timely reject President Trump’s cabinet with Pete Hegseth’s nomination.” That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Murphy defended Ratcliffe’s opposition to expedited confirmation.
“He has repeatedly politicized the intelligence community, and for many of us, there is no question that he intends to use the highly sensitive information that his agency collects for political purposes,” Murphy said during a debate on the Senate floor. “It raises real questions about whether this is the case.” “Given the serious questions that have arisen about his qualifications to do this job in a nonpolitical manner, I don’t think it’s too much to call for two days of serious debate on the Senate floor.”
In March 2021, the Senate I voted Former President Joe Biden unanimously approved CIA Director William Burns without a roll call vote.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the only Trump administration nominee to receive a confirmation vote so far.
A spokesperson for Mr. Schumer did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation about whether he believes Mr. Ratcliffe is “qualified” to lead the CIA.
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