With Ratcliffe, another Trump nominee withdraws with a damaged reputation
Five of the worst words to hear in Washington these days: “The President has nominated you…”
Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe, President Donald Trump’s short-lived nominee for director of national intelligence, is the latest would-be official to get the bad news. Up until he was tapped for the country’s top intelligence job on July 28, Ratcliffe was practically unknown around Washington.
Five days later, after Trump announced on Twitter that he had withdrawn from consideration, Ratcliffe has a new-found national profile. But not in a good way.
Almost immediately, Ratcliffe’s nomination was met by questions over his qualifications for the job, and a noticeably tepid response from Senate Republicans. Then, the Washington Post revealed he had falsely claimed on his congressional website to have “arrested over 300 illegal immigrants on a single day” when working as a federal prosecutor.
Had he not been nominated, Ratcliffe would be just another Trump loyalist in the House from a safe Republican district. Now he’s the guy who fudged his resumé. [Continue reading…]
An email disclosing Rep. John Ratcliffe’s (R-TX) alleged involvement in a controversial whistleblowing case reached the White House prior to the announcement Friday that he was withdrawing his name from consideration for Director of National Intelligence, according to two sources with knowledge of the correspondence.
The email, originally sent to the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, laid out how Ratcliffe promoted a company accused of being instrumental in the reprisal against a whistleblower and their cybersecurity efforts, according to one of those sources. The Government Accountability Project, an organization that protects whistleblowers, is helping represent the unnamed government employee. Details about the case are being closely held in part because of security reasons.
The organization sent information on its client’s disclosure to the committee Wednesday morning. The email then circulated among Republicans in Washington, including some White House officials, who did not think Ratcliffe was up to the job of DNI, according to two sources with direct knowledge. [Continue reading…]