The Senate on Thursday voted 49-to-44 to confirm Texas GOP Rep. Rep. John Ratcliffe as the next director of the Office of the Director on National Intelligence.

This is the second time Ratcliffe has been nominated to the position, initially withdrawing his nomination last year in the face of questions from both parties about whether he has the skills and experience to run the entire U.S. intelligence community.

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Ratcliffe will become the leader of 17 U.S. intelligence agencies, assuming the role from current acting Director Richard Grenell. The last director, Dan Coats, resigned on July 28, 2019.

(Excerpt from Just the News. Article by Sophie Mann.)

Who is Representative John Ratcliffe?

Ratcliffe is a member of the House Intelligence, Judiciary, and Ethics Committees. He was a staunch defender of Trump during the Russia investigation and was on the president’s advisory team during the impeachment proceedings earlier this year. Trump first considered him for the DNI position last year, but he withdrew his name last August fearing a rancorous, partisan confirmation process.

“I made the decision to withdraw from consideration because, you know, if your political future comes down to the vote of 100 U.S. senators, and you start out day one down 47 to nothing because every Democrat is against you, my concern was there’s not a lot of margin for error there,” Ratcliffe told Fox News at the time. “I just decided I was better served in the position that I am, where I can ask difficult questions of people like the special counsel and [former FBI Director] Jim Comey under oath and shape the investigation that way.”

Trump nominated Ratcliffe anyway in February. Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, is the current acting DNI, the second to have that role after former DNI Dan Coats’ resignation last summer. Joseph Maguire was acting DNI until February. . .

The DNI position was created after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to oversee the U.S. intelligence community. The DNI serves on the president’s cabinet and acts as an adviser to the president, National Security Council, and Homeland Security Council for national security-related intelligence issues.

A former federal prosecutor, Ratcliffe often went on the attack during the Russia probe and its aftermath, grilling Special Counsel Robert Mueller himself over his decision to write in his report that he could not exonerate the president of obstruction of justice.

“The special counsel’s job didn’t say you were to determine Trump’s innocence or to exonerate him,” Ratcliffe said at a July hearing, adding that “the bedrock principle of our justice system is a presumption of innocence—everyone is entitled to it, including a sitting president, and because of a presumption of innocence, a prosecutor never, ever needs to determine it.”. .

(Excerpt from Fox News. Article by Ron Blitzer.)