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Dems call Rep. John Ratcliffe ‘evasive’ on waterboarding ahead of Texan’s May 19 committee vote for U.S. spy chief

Texan faced skepticism from Democrats over his loyalty to the president, and Sens. Feinstein and King pressed him to renounce torture ahead of confirmation votes that Cornyn expects him to clear easily.

Originally published May 5. Last update May 13 at 1 p.m., with Sen. Cornyn expecting a May 19 committee vote and Sens. Feinstein and King pressing the nominee to renounce waterboarding.

WASHINGTON — Texas congressman John Ratcliffe, whose first nomination for director of national intelligence fizzled, will likely clear the Senate intelligence committee next Tuesday, according to Sen. John Cornyn, followed quickly by a confirmation vote in the full Senate within a week.

But in the meantime, Democrats pressed Ratcliffe on Wednesday to renounce waterboarding, calling him “evasive and noncommittal” in written and oral testimony when asked if he views that particular interrogation technique as an unlawful form of torture.

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In a letter to the nominee dated May 13, Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, and Angus King, a Maine independent, noted that when Kin asked during his confirmation hearing “whether you personally believed that waterboarding was a violation of anti-torture law, you ... refused to answer directly, saying only that, `the law makes clear in several places that torture is illegal.'”

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“We agree with you that U.S. law clearly outlaws all torture, as do several U.S. treaty obligations,” the senators wrote. "However, Senator King’s question deserves a clear and unequivocal answer since President Trump has vowed to `bring back waterboarding [and] bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.'”

Confirmation requires only a simple majority, and Republicans control the Senate with 53 of 100 seats. Most Republicans at Ratcliffe’s May 5 confirmation hearing expressed support.

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When Democrats controlled the Senate, Feinstein chaired the committee and led a six-year effort to expose abuses in the CIA’s detention and interrogation program after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (A 2019 film about that project, The Report, stars Annette Bening as the senator.)

Cornyn laid out the timetable for confirmation in a call Wednesday with Texas reporters.

Last week, he said that resistance has dissipated since last summer because “the better people get to know John Ratcliffe, they see that he is a very sincere person. Although he’s been a congressman and obviously involved in partisan politics, he was a former U.S. attorney and he recognizes the difference in the job of the DNI from that of a congressman.”

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Also, he said, “There’s a strong preference to have a confirmed DNI,” rather than an acting director who hasn’t faced Senate confirmation, which is how the post has been filled since August.

At his May 5 hearing, Ratcliffe assured skeptics that despite his loyalty to President Donald Trump he would set political considerations aside and provide only objective advice.

“As the president’s principal intelligence adviser I would ensure that all intelligence is collected, analyzed and reported without bias, prejudice or political influence,” he promised senators.

Trump picked the three-term conservative Republican for the post last July and again two months ago, putting him in line to become the nation’s next spy chief, coordinating the work of the CIA and 16 other agencies.

The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Republican Richard Burr of North Carolina, opposed Ratcliffe’s nomination the first time, joining a bipartisan chorus expressing doubts about his qualifications. But Burr said Tuesday that he supports confirmation now.

“We expect that you will lead the intelligence community with integrity, serve as a forceful advocate for the professionals in the IC and ensure the intelligence enterprise operates lawfully, ethically and morally,” Burr told the nominee, who served as a small-town mayor in Heath and as U.S. attorney in East Texas before winning a seat in the House in 2014.

Democrats continued to voice concern about installing an outspoken partisan and close Trump ally in a post created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to improve coordination of intelligence. The panel’s vice chairman, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, framed the hearing by denouncing Trump’s regular attacks on intelligence professionals and his ousters of intelligence community watchdogs and other top officials.

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“Unvarnished truth and unembellished analysis are not welcome in this White House,” Warner asserted. “I don’t see what has changed since last summer when the president decided not to proceed over concerns about your inexperience, partisanship and past statements that seemed to embellish your record.”

Burr and Warner wore masks around their necks, ready to cover their mouths. A pump jar of Purell hand sanitizer sat on Ratcliffe’s witness table.

Texas’ senators backed Ratcliffe for the post last summer. Sen. Ted Cruz called him a “strong choice.” Cornyn called him a “worthy successor” to Dan Coats, who served as director under Trump after 25 years in the Senate and a stint as ambassador to Germany. Cornyn introduced Ratcliffe at the hearing.

With a blue bandanna around his neck, Cornyn delivered a statement on behalf of John Ashcroft, who was attorney general when Ratcliffe served as a U.S. attorney: “I’ve seen him speak the unvarnished truth to those he works with and to senior government officials." Speaking for himself, Cornyn also vouched for his fellow Texan.

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“John Ratcliffe has the personal integrity and intelligence to understand the difference between being a legislator and being the director of national intelligence," he said.

Attendance at the the 2½-hour hearing was severely limited amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Senators took turns attending, in order to maintain safe social distancing. Burr noted that the nominee’s wife and family were not on hand, as they usually would be.

“I send them appreciation via C-SPAN,” he said.

Burr said later that he hoped to hold a confirmation vote as soon as possible.

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The director of national intelligence coordinates the work of agencies including the CIA and National Security Agency and elements of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, armed services and departments of state, energy, treasury and homeland security.

Ratcliffe serves on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees. As a prosecutor he dealt with classified information and oversaw some counterterrorism work, but he has never worked directly in the intelligence field. Last summer, he faced allegations that he had exaggerated his role in a case involving the Holy Land Foundation, a charity linked to Hamas.

Critics cast him as a partisan hack unqualified to oversee the sprawling intelligence community. Ratcliffe withdrew his nomination within a week.

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On Feb. 29, Trump nominated him a second time.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., noted that when Trump first picked Ratcliffe, he said the Texan would “rein in” a U.S. intelligence community that had “run amok." Asked if he agreed, Ratcliffe answered, “I have never said that.”

Heinrich then asked if Ratcliffe believes that a “Deep State” controls the nation’s spy agencies or law enforcement, a conspiracy theory Trump has peddled.

“I don’t know what that is,” Ratcliffe replied. He also swatted aside the suggestion that Trump sought any promise of loyalty. “My loyalty is to the Constitution and to the rule of law, and I have made that very clear to everyone, including the president," he said.

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In one of the more combative exchanges, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. — his voice slightly muffled by a mask he kept on his face — pressed Ratcliffe to say whether he would publicly disagree if Trump leveled the “run amok” assertion again. Eventually the nominee gave in, telling him: "I don’t think the men and women of the intelligence community are running amok.”

On substance, senators probed for Ratcliffe’s views on China, Russia, North Korea and other threats.

Rep. John Ratcliffe of Heath attended Game 5 of the 2019 World Series as a guest of...
Rep. John Ratcliffe of Heath attended Game 5 of the 2019 World Series as a guest of President Donald Trump. The Houston Astros beat the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on Oct. 27, 2019. Ratcliffe is in the blue blazer, below the president.(Will Newton / Getty Images)

Rep. Will Hurd, a former undercover CIA officer, backed Ratcliffe in an op-ed published early Tuesday in The Dallas Morning News. The San Antonio-area Republican lauded Ratcliffe’s work on cybersecurity, calling him “detail-oriented" and a “great selection.”

Ratcliffe caught Trump’s eye during hearings on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, with pointed questioning of special counsel Robert Mueller. Ratcliffe further endeared himself during House impeachment hearings last fall, and Trump chose him for a high-profile spot as a spokesman for his defense team during the trial.

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The 54-year-old congressman has served as mayor of Heath, in Rockwall County east of Dallas; as a federal prosecutor; and as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas under President George W. Bush. In 2014, he ousted 91-year-old Rep. Ralph Hall in the GOP primary.

Russian meddling, loyalty

At his confirmation hearing, Ratcliffe walked a tightrope, assuring senators that he would be an honest broker while avoiding any comment that might show too much daylight between him and the president, as when Burr asked for his views on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.

The Senate committee issued a bipartisan conclusion that Russia tried to help Trump win in 2016 — echoing the unanimous conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies. Ratcliffe readily agreed that Russia meddled but would not concede that its goal was to help Trump.

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“They have a goal of sowing discord,” he testified. “They may have been successful in that regard, but they have not been successful in changing votes, or the outcome of any election.”

When Warner pressed the point, Ratcliffe again demurred, saying he had "no reason to dispute the committee’s findings” but also had no reason to dispute a House report — issued before Democrats regained control in the 2018 elections — that did not conclude that Russia wanted Trump to win.

Under questioning by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Ratcliffe testified that despite his own fierce attacks last year on the whistleblower whose complaint led to Trump’s impeachment, he believes strongly in the value of whistleblowers. As an example, he cited the way China quashed warnings from a doctor in Wuhan early in the COVID-19 outbreak.

“I won’t shade intelligence for anyone, whether we’re talking about the president, members of Congress or any policymakers,” he testified. “I will deliver the unvarnished truth. Whatever anyone wants the intelligence to reflect won’t impact the intelligence that I deliver.”

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Ahead of the confirmation hearing, national security experts have complained that Ratcliffe lacks the depth in intelligence or foreign affairs held by previous spy chiefs, such as Coats, who resigned Aug. 15.

James Clapper, a leading Trump critic, was an Air Force general and head of the Defense Intelligence Agency before President Barack Obama tapped him for the post.

If confirmed, Ratcliffe would replace Ric Grennell, Trump’s ambassador to Germany before the president tapped him as acting intelligence director in February. Grennell had been a vocal Trump defender on Fox News, and critics also questioned his qualifications.

Trump fired Grenell’s predecessor, retired Adm. Joseph Maguire, who also held the job in an acting capacity, after a subordinate testified to Congress that in the view of the U.S. intelligence community, Russia prefers to see Trump win the 2020 election.