President Trump said on Thursday that he would nominate Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan and the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to be the next director of national intelligence.
Mr. Trump had been under pressure to move on from his decision to appoint Bill Pulte, a top housing official, as the acting director, replacing Tulsi Gabbard, who announced last month that she would step down from the post.
The appointment of Mr. Pulte derailed the congressional reauthorization of one of the government’s most powerful surveillance authorities. But the announcement of Mr. Clayton to be nominated for Senate confirmation seemed unlikely to immediately solve Mr. Trump’s problems with Congress.
The House on Thursday rejected a three-week extension of the law, which will expire at midnight on Friday. With Congress now out of town, it would be difficult to schedule another vote before the deadline.
Mr. Trump, in a social media post, encouraged the Senate to confirm Mr. Clayton “as soon as possible.”
“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Mr. Trump wrote.
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