Senate confirms Jay Clayton as Trump's director of national intelligence, replacing Pulte
Bill Pulte had been serving for months as DNI after Tulsi Gabbard resigned the post.
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Jay Clayton appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill July 15, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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The Senate on Tuesday evening confirmed Jay Clayton as President Donald Trump's director of national intelligence, giving him authority over 18 U.S. intelligence agencies and access to the nation's most sensitive secrets.
Clayton, a former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission and current U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was confirmed on a party-line, 51-47 vote.
"Congratulations to the Great Jay Clayton on his confirmation by the United States Senate, to be the next Director of National Intelligence," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "Jay is outstanding in every way, and will do a spectacular job as Director!"
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., in remarks on the Senate floor Monday, said, "Amid a heightened threat environment, having a proven leader in this role is especially important. Jay Clayton fits this mold."
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Clayton's confirmation ends the controversial reign of Bill Pulte, a close Trump ally and director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who led a series of layoffs of high-ranking intelligence officials during his brief tenure as acting DNI.
Pulte was tapped by Trump to temporarily replace Tulsi Gabbard after she resigned the post.
Trump announced Clayton as his choice for DNI in June, and he was initially seen as a relatively non-controversial pick.
Eager to get Pulte out of the job, lawmakers tried to fast-track Clayton's approval. But Trump instructed Clayton not to appear the morning of a scheduled confirmation hearing in June, delaying the process.
Clayton eventually testified to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence earlier this month, but the hearing turned contentious when he declined to state outright that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election over Trump, and defended the subpoenaing of New York Times journalists for their reporting on a Qatari jet that was gifted to Trump to be used as Air Force One.
The DOJ has since withdrawn those subpoenas.
"I just voted NO on Jay Clayton's nomination to be Director of National Intelligence. Why should someone who can't acknowledge who won the 2020 election oversee our intelligence agencies?" Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., posted to X on Tuesday.
Clayton's confirmation could pave the way for a deal to renew a foreign surveillance law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. That law lapsed in June, in part due to Democratic opposition to Pulte's interim appointment.
