President Trump on Friday backed away from his plan to nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) as the next director of national intelligence after just five days.
Trump announced his intention to nominate Ratcliffe, who he praised as a "highly respected congressman," to replace Dan Coats on June 28. But Ratcliffe drew scrutiny in the following days when reports from The New York Times and other outlets emerged that he allegedly exaggerated aspects of his career as a prosecutor. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said that this "raises enormous red flags," CNN reports.
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Ratcliffe himself said on Twitter that he is "very grateful" to have been picked by Trump but that "I do not wish for a national security and intelligence debate surrounding my confirmation, however untrue, to become a purely political and partisan issue." Therefore, he says he has asked Trump to "nominate someone other than me for this position."
This whole cycle occurred so quickly that Trump didn't actually ever get the chance to formally nominate Ratcliffe for the position before this announcement, but he promised on Friday a new pick will come "shortly."
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