Trump Appoints John Ratcliffe as CIA Director
Pres.-elect Donald Trump has nominated former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe as the CIA director in his second administration. Ratcliffe previously served as director of national intelligence under him from 2020 to 2021....
Facts
- Pres.-elect Donald Trump has nominated former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe as the CIA director in his second administration. Ratcliffe previously served as director of national intelligence under him from 2020 to 2021.[1][2]
- Trump first sought to nominate him as director of national intelligence in 2019, but he withdrew the nomination due to backlash from Senate Republicans over Ratcliffe's lack of experience. However, senators later shifted their views and confirmed him the following year.[3]
- In 2016, Ratcliffe declassified Russian intelligence that was damaging to Democrats and, in 2020, he rejected claims from dozens of intelligence agency leaders that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian propaganda.[4]
- Ratcliffe also defended Trump against accusations of Russian collusion following his 2016 election victory over Hillary Clinton. As a congressman, he called Trump's first impeachment 'the thinnest, fastest and weakest impeachment our country has ever seen.'[4][5]
- As the director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe focused on China and accused US intelligence analysts of double standards in their relative treatment of Beijing and Moscow.[5][6]
- Ratcliffe's appointment came amid speculation that Trump would select more staunch allies to join him in government, such as former Trump national security and military advisor Kash Patel.[5]
Sources: [1]FOX News, [2]CNN, [3]New York Post, [4]PBS NewsHour, [5]Wsj and [6]New York Times.
Narratives
- Republican narrative, as provided by PJ Media. After years of US intelligence agencies actively working against the American people, Trump is appointing officials who care about national security and constitutional rights. Ratcliffe was one of the leading players in exposing the lies surrounding the Russia collusion hoax and the genuine Hunter Biden laptop scandal. The country deserves a CIA director who goes after bad guys abroad, not good guys at home.
- Democratic narrative, as provided by NBC. While Ratcliffe may finally have some national security experience, he is still a partisan politician at heart. After declassifying faulty Russian intelligence to hurt Clinton, the American people can expect more of the same as he enters an arguably more powerful role. CIA employees are going to be very cautious around this politically motivated appointee.
