Democrats bristle at Trump's repeat DNI choice

Let's try this again.

President Trump said Friday he will nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) to serve as the United States' next director of national intelligence. It's the second time Trump put the congressman — who is considered an ardent Trump loyalist, and was a very vocal supporter of the president during the House impeachment inquiry — up for the role.

Trump eventually advised Ratcliffe last July not to take the job because he would have "gone through months of slander and libel." It's not entirely clear why that stance has changed, but Ratcliffe is still expected to face confirmation hurdles, as even some Republican lawmakers expressed concern over his credentials and suggested he may be too partisan for the role, which involves matters of national security. A senior administration official, however, told The Wall Street Journal that Republican senators are more open to the idea this time around, presumably because they just want to have someone step into the permanent role.

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Democrats will likely resist the nomination. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called him a "highly partisan operative" in a time, he said, where the intelligence needs bipartisan leadership, while Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it's "hard for me" to see why any concerns about Ratcliffe's partisanship would have changed.

Regardless, one official told the Journal, Trump will get "his guy in the role," even if it's not Ratfcliffe. Read more at NPR and The Wall Street Journal.