Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the southern district of New York, refused to say that Joe Biden won the 2020 election during his Wednesday confirmation hearing to become the country’s next intelligence chief.
Clayton opted instead to say that Biden was “certified” as president. Clayton also skirted questions about his previous election integrity claims and whether or not a White House official asked him to subpoena a group of New York Times journalists as part of an alleged national security investigation.
Clayton, if confirmed, would replace Bill Pulte, whom Donald Trump installed as acting director of national intelligence last month. Pulte’s position atop the American intelligence agencies has been deeply divisive on Capitol Hill, with members of both parties saying his background as the chair of a federal mortgage regulation agency is not enough experience for the job, and that Pulte’s unwavering loyalty to Trump and willingness to punish the president’s political enemies make him a dangerous spy chief.
Trump is scheduled to address the country Thursday night about supposed fraud in the 2020 election. Pulte has reportedly pushed Trump to make the address and potentially unveil purported evidence of election interference, and Trump may disclose newly declassified intelligence reports that he will claim indicate a foreign nation may have interfered in the 2020 presidential race.
Senate Democrats repeatedly pressed Clayton to articulate his view of the 2020 election throughout the hearing.
“Can you tell me why Joe Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 election?” Mark Kelly, the Arizona senator, asked.
“He had the most electoral votes, followed our process, and was declared the winner,” Clayton said – stopping short of calling Biden the winner.
“It seems that folks nominated for these positions just fundamentally refuse to disagree with something the president says,” Kelly responded. “If you can’t disagree with him when he’s not in the room, will you be able to disagree with him when you are sitting across from him in the Oval Office or the Situation Room?”
Senators also questioned Clayton about his qualifications and political loyalties. His hearing had been delayed by more than a month, extending Pulte’s acting tenure, following Trump’s unusual intervention to stall the confirmation of his own intelligence chief after Tulsi Gabbard exited the role in June.
Tom Cotton, chair of the Senate intelligence committee, asked the prospective intelligence director to reaffirm his commitment to downsizing and streamlining the oversight agency – a mandate that Pulte embraced during his short term and Gabbard enacted with cuts and early retirement offerings last year.
Like Pulte, Clayton has thin credentials for the US’s top intelligence job. He served as the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during Trump’s first term and made millions working as a Wall Street attorney in the decades before his 2017 SEC post. He has no experience serving in any intelligence agency in any capacity.
But Clayton has also demonstrated unwavering support for Trump and his agenda – including his conspiracy theories of election fraud.
Senators continued to litigate questions of election integrity throughout the hearing, following up on Clayton’s 8 June remarks to CNBC, stating that: “We’re doing an absolutely terrible job, and the American people are right to question it.”
He also said California’s mail-voting laws, which include sending mail ballots to all voters and a grace period for ballots to arrive after election day, created an “opportunity for fraud”.
“Is there a problem with voter fraud in this country?” Angus King, the Maine senator, asked.
“I don’t think we can say definitely,” Clayton responded. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the US.
Gabbard also adopted Trump’s special interests as DNI priorities, launching investigations into baseless claims of 2020 election fraud and alleged politicization across US spy agencies. Several lawmakers asked Clayton whether he also planned to enact the president’s agenda, or would preserve the integrity of the country’s intelligence products and deliver the truth, however unfavorable.
“If the IC [intelligence community] workforce feels they’re going to get political blowback, or get fired, which we have seen, because they reach a conclusion that may not be what certain folks in the administration want to hear, that undermines the whole work of the whole community,” Mike Rounds, the South Dakota senator, said.
Rounds also called it “stunning” that Gabbard had appeared at an election site raid.
“We’re coming into election season. I want to make sure you are on the record, if confirmed, you will commit, you will not interfere with or comment inappropriately on US elections,” Rounds said.
“The role is to deal with foreign interference in US elections, which is something I’m gravely concerned about,” Clayton responded. “We cannot have the DNI trying to put his or her hands on the scales in terms of tipping the outcome of any American election. We commit to not putting hands on the scales.”
Mark Warner, the Senate intelligence vice-chair, noted that a substantial number of intelligence employees now say they are concerned about the intelligence analysis being undermined by political interference.
• This article was amended on 16 July 2026. Mark Kelly is a senator from Arizona, not Virginia as an earlier version said.
