Susan Collins Backs DNI Pick Jay Clayton After 2020 Election Evasion
Updated
Updated · The Atlantic · Jul 17
Susan Collins Backs DNI Pick Jay Clayton After 2020 Election Evasion
3 articles · Updated · The Atlantic · Jul 17
Summary
Collins said Jay Clayton “did a good job” after the DNI nominee refused at his Senate hearing to directly say who won the 2020 election.
Pressed by Sen. Jon Ossoff, Clayton would say only that Joe Biden was certified as the winner, repeating a formulation Democrats argue sidesteps Trump’s false stolen-election claims.
The exchange matters because the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has been drawn into Trump’s election-security push, including intelligence used in his latest speech alleging elections can be “rigged and stolen.”
Collins’s support is notable with her reelection 4 months away, underscoring how even a traditionally moderate Republican has not treated election denial as disqualifying.