Jay Clayton, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 15, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
While cable news focused on the Senate confirmation hearing of attorney general nominee Todd Blanche, there was another hearing for President Donald Trump's nominee to take over for Tulsi Gabbard.
Jay Clayton, who is Trump's second nominee to serve as his second Director of National Intelligence, refused to answer basic questions before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.
When faced with questions about Gabbard's presence in Fulton County, Georgia, when the FBI raided the county elections office. At first, Calyton struggled to give a straight answer, and then that answer changed.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) asked whether he was aware of the raid, and Clayton said he had been informed of it by Ossoff.
"What is going on here?" Ossoff questioned when he couldn't get a straight answer. He then demanded a "yes or no" answer.
"I just said I was made aware of it by you yesterday," a perspiring Clayton said.
"The first time you learned Director Gabbard was present at that raid was in my office yesterday?" Ossoff said, shocked, given it was such a huge story and so important to the department.
Clayton said it was "the first time" in his "recollection" that he'd "thought about it recently."
"What?" a confused Ossoff asked.
The interview then devolved into a kind of "who's on first" routine where Clayton hedged around his answers, and Ossoff fought for a "yes or no" answer.
MS NOW host Katy Tur questioned veteran newsman and author David Rohde, "He calls it a hypothetical, but that's what happened. So, what's up with that answer?"
Rohde, an NBC national security analyst, called it absolutely extraordinary," but it wasn't a compliment.
"You're interviewing for a job. You're going to be the Director of National Intelligence. Your predecessor was ordered by the president of the United States to go down and witness an FBI raid, where they seized election records in Fulton County, Georgia. The president has no control over elections in this country. We've talked about it over and over again," Rohde said, implying Clayton didn't fully grasp the seriousness of the position.
"It was mind-boggling the way he answered that question, that he claimed he didn't even know that Tulsi Gabbard had been there," Rohde said with disbelief. "And then when asked if he would do this order. I mean, this is a violation of the Constitution. This is the president trying to interfere [and] potentially steal an election. And Jay Clayton could be asked to do this. His answer is, I'm just learning of this now."
Rohde mentioned comments from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) previously that he was willing to give Clayton a chance, and he simply didn't cut it.
Warner "asked [Clayton] one more time, in your preparation for these hearings, did you come across or think about or prepare for questions about Tulsi Gabbard being sent to seize those election records in Georgia? And he — and Jay Clayton said it just wasn't something that was on my mind before this hearing. That was astonishing," Rohde said.