US intelligence director pick refuses to acknowledge Trump loss in 2020

President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the United States intelligence community has maintained he is not an “election denier”.

But while appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, nominee Jay Clayton repeatedly refused to say former US President Joe Biden won the 2020 election over Trump.

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Clayton, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, faced the committee as part of confirmation proceedings to take over the role of director of national intelligence (DNI), a cabinet-level position.

But the proceedings coincided with renewed scrutiny over Trump’s false claims about US election integrity. Trump has asserted, without evidence, that he won the 2020 race, and critics fear he may use the federal government to advance that narrative.

Senators pressed Clayton about his views on the 2020 race between Biden and Trump, and he acknowledged that Biden had been “certified” as the victor. But he avoided directly saying Biden “won” the race.

In one exchange, Democrat Jon Ossoff asked Clayton point-blank, “Who won the 2020 election?”

“I’m not going to do this with you,” Clayton responded.

“This is a job interview. We’ve established that you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee,” Ossoff replied. He then repeated, “Who won the 2020 election?”

Clayton maintained he had already “answered the question”.

In another pointed exchange, Democratic Senator Mark Kelly dug into the issue.

“Tell me why Joe Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 election,” Kelly said.

“I’m going back to my constitutional law here. I don’t want to continue to have a debate about this, but I believe he had the most electoral votes,” Clayton responded, referring to the Electoral College system, which determines the outcome of presidential races.

The vote tally in each US state generally decides how many Electoral College votes go to a given candidate.

“So he won the election?” Kelly asked.

“He followed our process, had the most electoral votes, was declared the winner,” Clayton responded.

“And who has the most electoral votes? Is it the person who wins or the person who loses?” Kelly asked.

“That’s your characterisation,” Clayton said. “I’m not going to continue to do this”.

Refusal to contradict

Though Clayton is seen as a more moderate alternative to the current acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte, his response on Wednesday represented a possible stumbling block in his confirmation proceedings.

Trump has never admitted to his 2020 election loss. The final tally of the vote showed that Biden won the Electoral College system, with 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.

He also won the popular vote, with 81,284,666 votes to Trump’s 74,224,319.

Trump has maintained that the 2020 vote was “stolen” from him through fraud, despite presenting no evidence to back the claim.

A legal campaign by Trump’s allies to prove voting irregularities was unsuccessful in the wake of the 2020 vote.

While a handful of instances of fraud have been documented over the years, even conservative groups have not found evidence to suggest such occurrences could come close to changing the outcome of federal races.

Clayton’s statements come as lawmakers raise concerns that Trump could politicise federal agencies to back his claims of election malfeasance.

The 2020 election is expected to feature prominently in Trump’s national address on Thursday, although details of the speech have not been released.

Former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) carried out a raid on an election centre in Fulton County, Georgia, in January.

Trump’s Department of Justice has also sought to pressure states to turn over their voter rolls, a move that several state officials have opposed.

On Wednesday, top Democrats accused Clayton of being afraid to contradict Trump during the hearing.

“It seems that folks who are nominated for these positions just fundamentally refuse to disagree with something the president says,” Kelly said.

Kelly went on to argue that cabinet-level nominees should have the integrity to put US law and ethics first, even if that means disagreeing with the president.

“You’re gonna be in a room with him many times, and at times you should have a difference of opinion,” Kelly said. “If you can’t disagree with him when he’s not in the room, are you going to be able to disagree with him when you’re sitting across from him in the Oval Office or the Situation Room?”

US Senator Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the chamber, echoed that point in a post on the social media platform X.

“If you can’t admit Joe Biden won the 2020 election, how can you possibly lead our country’s intelligence agencies?” Schumer asked.