A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Trump is putting Senate Republicans on the spot again, this time over his pick for director of national intelligence.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
OK. It's a little complicated because the president is stopping himself from installing someone in office. But here's what we think is happening. Bill Pulte, a man with a record of weaponizing government information to undermine Trump's perceived foes, will serve as the temporary boss of the nation's 18 intelligence agencies. President Trump does not want his full-time pick for that role, Jay Clayton, to move ahead with Senate confirmation until the Senate confirms a replacement for the job. Clayton is leaving U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
MARTÍNEZ: In a few minutes, we'll hear from Senator Elissa Slotkin on Clayton's possible confirmation. But first, NPR congress reporter Eric McDaniel's covering this. So, Eric, take us through what the president is asking of GOP senators.
ERIC MCDANIEL, BYLINE: So, in an overnight post on Wednesday, Trump made two demands. They both show his relationship with Senate Republicans is breaking down. Let's start with the first demand. Trump said he would hold back his own director of national intelligence until the pick's replacement is confirmed, like you heard. That leaves the very controversial Bill Pulte as director of national intelligence for now.
MARTÍNEZ: So why is he so controversial?
MCDANIEL: Yeah. He used his first role in the administration as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to assail folks who'd frustrated the president, like Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California and former Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Pulte accused Schiff of mortgage fraud, which Schiff denies. And Democrats are worried Pulte would do worse with access to the entire government surveillance toolkit. And Republicans are frustrated that he lacks any national security or intelligence background.
MARTÍNEZ: And the president won't let the confirmation of his full-time pick move ahead?
MCDANIEL: No. He says it's because he wants a backfill person in place. But he also says the Senate is trying to deprive Pulte of a turn at the job. Trump has said he wants Pulte to declassify 2020 election documents and fire folks at the DNI office.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. So you mentioned Trump had two demands.
MCDANIEL: The second is for Republicans to pass his election security law. Senate Republicans have tried twice and failed twice because the Save America Act doesn't have enough support to become law. As the top Senate Republican John Thune said, the U.S. Senate is bound by arithmetic. And they do not have the votes to overcome the chamber's de facto 60-vote majority required to pass legislation. But because they haven't passed it, Trump says he'll block the renewal of a key spy tool, part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act the government says underpins 60% of the president's daily intelligence brief.
MARTÍNEZ: So why would the president block a key spy tool or hold open a seat in his own cabinet?
MCDANIEL: I mean, things have broken down. First, we've got three coequal branches of government. The Senate can't do what Trump wants because they don't have the votes. U.S. elections are also already secure. The president keeps making the demands anyway. Second, the Senate is supposed to be able to vet cabinet nominees, but the president's decision to block the confirmation of the full-time guide deprives them of that constitutional responsibility. This is not how checks and balances are supposed to work, but it is where we find ourselves.
MARTÍNEZ: And here's the thing. Senate Republicans have been here before, not that long ago.
MCDANIEL: I mean, I've recently been here in studio to talk about the president's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund the president hoped to use to issue payments to compensate people he says have been victimized by the government. There was also $1 billion the president wanted to fund security of his White House ballroom project. Both of those are varying degrees of defeated. But they were both massive headaches for the Senate Republicans and nearly derailed funding for one of the president's own priorities, immigration enforcement.
MARTÍNEZ: All this feels like it could be a little messy, Eric. I mean, where is it heading now?
MCDANIEL: A, I don't know. Presumably, the Senate tries to get Jay Clayton's replacement as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York confirmed quickly to unlock some things. But the goalposts keep moving further away, and I imagine there are still some surprises that lie ahead.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Eric McDaniel. Eric, thanks a lot.
MCDANIEL: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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