Interviewed in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 54-year-old Rep. John Ratcilffe (R-Tx.) got grilled today, asked whether as Director of National Intelligence [DNI] he would resist 73-year-old President Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories, especially when it came to China. Ratcliffe knows very well what goes with the territory, most likely would have no interest in the job if he didn’t see eye-to-eye with Trump. Yet Democrats on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence all pretended that Ratcliffe would be in independent voice, resisting President Trump’s theories about China and the Deep State. While Ratcliffe got grilled in the Senate, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, demanded that 53-year-old FBI Director Christopher Wray turn over all documents related to Lt. Gen. Michael Flynns Dec. 19, 2016 FBI interrogation.
Members of the Senate Select Committee wanted Ratcliffe to deliver “objective and timely” intelligence, “collected, analyzied and reported without bias, prejudice or political influence,” a tall order when you consider the kind of bias by House Democrats against Trump. When Democrats on the Select Committee say the want “objective and timely” data, what they’re really saying is they want information biased against Trump. When it comes to China, Democrats look like they trust Red China more than Trump when it has to do with the origin of the corona AKA SARS CoV-2 or Covid-19 pandemic. “If confirmed as DNIC, one of the things that I’ve made clear to everyone is that I will deliver the unvarnished truth. It won’t be shaded for anyone,” Ratcliffe told the committee. “What anyone wants the intelligence to reflect won’t impact the intelligence that I deliver.”
Democrats on all House committees accuse any Trump appointee of being a suck-up, rubber-stamp, regardless of candidates’ impressive educations, work histories and distinguished career in their respective fields. “Before we put the Senate’s stamp of approval and confirm a nominee to this critical position, senators must demand that qualities that the Senate specified when it passed the laws creating the ODNI,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), one of the most partisan members of the Senate. Warner despises everything and anyone connected with Trump. Warner was especially critical of Ratcliffe’s views on Russian meddling in the 2016 election, saying that U.S. intel agencies concluded that Russia favored Trump in the 2016 election. Ratcliffe said he had “no reason to dispute” the findings but agreed with the House Intelligence Committee which faulted “analytic tradecraft” drawing conclusions.
Ratcliffe hit all the right diplomatic notes to obvious partisan trick questions. He was asked about whether or not Trump had made progress in nuclear disarmament in North Korea. “I can’t address whether or not we’ve made progress,” Ratcliffe said, saying he was “not sure.” On more controversial topics, Ratcliffe showed he was well coached going into the hearing. Asked about Trump firing Intelligence Community Inspector General Micahel Atkinson, Ratcliffe said he didn’t have “enough information” on the subject. Ratcliffe demurred when asked about the “whistleblower complaint” against Trump that triggered his impeachment hearings. “That’s a legal question that I don’t know the answer to,” Ratcliffe said, dodging yet another bullet by the Senate Select Committee. Ratcliffe drew the right balance saying he would uphold the U.S. Constitution when performing his job.
Currently a member of the House Intelligence Committee under Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Ratliffe knows firsthand the extreme prejudice against his soon-to-be boss. Ratcliffe said he would be “laser focused” of determining the origin of the novel coronavirus, something Trump has the intel community looking into. Democrats on the committee lean toward believing China’s claims that the deadly, highly contagious coronavirus infected the Wuhan population jumping borders to a global pandemic was derived from a “natural source.” White House officials believe China unleashed the deadly virus from Wuhan’s Institute of Virology bioweapons’ laboratory, something Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed May. 1. Ratcliffe told the Select Committee that he believed China was the biggest threat to U.S. power, looking to weaken the U.S. politically and economically.
Ratcliffe showed his critics on the Select Committee that superior diplomatic skills go a long way toward a Senate confirmation. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Select Committee, thought Ratcliffe succeeded in his confirmation hearing. “I think he did a very successful job,” “It’s my intent to run this nomination as quickly trough the committee as—possibly next week—and then hopefully work with the majority leader to get to the floor quickly so we can have a permanent DN in place,” Burr said. Ratcliffe clearly finds himself in agreement with Trump on most issues confronting the White House. One issue that eluded Burr was exploring Atty. Gen. William Barr and U.S. Atty. John Durham’s ongoing investigation into FBI misbehavior in 59-year-old former FBI Director James Comey’s counterintelligence investigation against Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
