CNN is reporting that the Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, former the Republican Senator from Indiana and lately a target of Trump’s ire, is stepping down (or perhaps was directed to retired) and is to be replaced by Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX):
Dan Coats will step down as the director of national intelligence on August 15, President Donald Trump announced Sunday in a tweet, a departure that marks the most recent chapter in Trump’s tense and puzzling relationship with the US intelligence community.
Texas Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe, who aggressively questioned former special counsel Robert Mueller last week during Congressional hearings involving his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, will be nominated by the President to replace Coats.
That it was Ratcliffe, who was aggressive with former Special Counsel (and lifelong Republican) Mueller, immediately made me wonder how much of a Trump ally Ratcliffe might be. One good measure is his TrumpScore, which is currently …
I deliberately included the fact that he voted against Trump on the recently passed budget bill, and while a 92% TrumpScore sounds high, I don’t think it’s as bad as it might be. Ballotpedia notes Ratcliffe endorsed fellow Texan Ted Cruz for President, rather than Trump. FiveThirtyEight also notes that Ratcliffe voted against the President on H.J.Res.30 – Disapproving the President’s proposal to take an action relating to the application of certain sanctions with respect to the Russian Federation, suggesting that Ratcliffe’s reputation as very conservative may include a healthy concern about Russia and its proxies. If it matters, here’s his rating from On The Issues:
Given Trump’s inclination to make rapid decisions, he may have watched the hearings and mistook Ratcliffe’s hard questions, motivated by his years as a prosecutor, as making Ratcliffe a trustworthy ally, someone who’ll feed Trump what he wants to hear. If that’s true, then this is a disaster. But it’s not entirely clear to me that’ll be what Ratcliffe will do. If he’s a principled conservative, he may deliver to Trump what he believes is the truth, as told to him by the various intelligence communities under his remit.
And if he doesn’t, we just have to survive until Trump is bounced out on his ass. OK, I’ll retract that “just,” it makes it sound easy.
