Trump taps former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe to lead CIA

"Trump taps former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe to lead CIA" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Trump-Vance transition team announced Tuesday.

Ratcliffe, a fierce defender of the president-elect, represented Texas’ 4th Congressional District in the northeastern part of the state until he was tapped to serve as Trump’s director of national intelligence in 2020. His congressional seat was filled by U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Sherman.

“John Ratcliffe has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public,” Trump said in a statement. “He will be a fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans, while ensuring the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.”

The Republican-controlled Senate will need to confirm Ratcliffe's nomination when Trump takes office.

If confirmed, according to the announcement, Ratcliffe would become the first person to have led both the CIA and national intelligence. The CIA director manages the agency's activities — including intelligence collection, analysis of foreign threats and covert action campaigns — and reports to the director of national intelligence, who oversees the broader U.S. intelligence community.

Ratcliffe earned a reputation as one of Trump’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill, defending the president during his impeachment hearings, helping push investigations into Hunter Biden and gaining notoriety for berating former special counsel Robert Mueller during a congressional hearing.

He is among the first Texans tapped by Trump to serve in his second administration, out of a long list of Texas Republicans with close ties to the president-elect.

Trump also tapped billionaire Elon Musk, who lives in Texas, to head a "Department of Government Efficiency," or DOGE, on Tuesday alongside former GOP presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy. DOGE, Trump said, would "provide advice and guidance from outside of Government" to "drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before."

Ratcliffe's initial nomination to head national intelligence was scuttled in 2019 after he withdrew his name for consideration amid a report by The Washington Post that he had exaggerated parts of his biography, including his role as the leader of an immigration crackdown while he was a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Texas. Democrats also opposed his nomination, arguing he was not qualified to oversee the intelligence community and raising concerns that he would use the position to Trump's political benefit.

Ratcliffe's nomination to national intelligence director won support from Republicans, including U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee who said at the time that Ratcliffe had the "personal integrity and intelligence to be able to understand the difference between being a legislator and being the Director of National Intelligence."

Ratcliffe defended his record, and Trump put him up for the job again several months after he took himself out of contention. He was confirmed by the Senate, 49-44, in 2020.

“John did a fabulous job as DNI and I have every confidence he will lead the CIA better than anyone in history,” Fallon said in a text message on Tuesday after the announcement.

In June 2022, the U.S. House committee investigating the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol revealed that Ratcliffe had warned White House staffers against pursuing efforts to overturn the 2020 election ahead of the insurrection.

“It felt it was dangerous for the president’s legacy,” former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson said of Ratcliffe’s mindset in testimony to the panel. “He had expressed to me he was concerned it could spiral out of control and potentially be dangerous either for our democracy or the way things were going for [Jan.] 6.”

Ratcliffe was hired in 2004 as an assistant federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Texas, where he was named chief of anti-terrorism. He was also elected mayor of Heath, a suburb just east of Dallas, where he had started a law practice.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/12/donald-trump-texan-john-ratcliffe-CIA/.

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