Trump chooses John Ratcliffe as his CIA director

CNN
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Donald Trump has named John Ratcliffe as his CIA director, the president-elect announced in a statement Tuesday.

Ratcliffe was at the top of the list of potential candidates for attorney general, sources told CNN.

He is currently co-chair of the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-affiliated think tank.

The Texas conservative served as director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021 during Trump’s first term – and his appointment served as a key argument for critics who believed Trump was using the intelligence community to serve his political needs. During his time in office, Ratcliffe publicly released unconfirmed information about Russia’s influence in the 2016 presidential election over the objections of members of the intelligence community. Critics at the time claimed that Ratcliffe was using intelligence to help Trump politically as the 2020 presidential election approached.

Ratcliffe remained in office through the 2020 election and presidential transition, personally telling Trump and his allies that there was no evidence of foreign election interference or widespread voter fraud. Years later, he was required to testify about that experience before a federal grand jury as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal investigation into the fallout from the 2020 election.

This is a developing story and will be updated.