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John Ratcliffe He was confirmed on Thursday as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), making him the second chairman. Donald Trump’s cabinets to secure their position.
By a vote of 74 to 25, Ratcliffe was confirmed.
Ratcliffe’s full approval by the Senate followed a 14-3 vote by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday evening, which advanced Ratcliffe’s nomination to the Senate on Thursday.
Ratcliffe previously served as Trump’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI) from May 2020 to January 2021, during the president’s first term. At the time, Ratcliffe faced scrutiny over whether he was properly qualified for the role and whether his loyalty to Trump could cloud his judgment. Ratcliffe’s eventual nomination was approved along party lines.
UNCOMPLIING SENATE HEARINGS FOR TRUMP’S CABINET NOMINEE
Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director John Ratcliffe appears for a Senate intelligence confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill January 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. Ratcliffe, a former conservative congressman from Texas, served as Director of National Intelligence during Trump’s first term. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Prior to Ratcliffe’s role as DNI, he was a member of the House of Representatives since 2015, serving the 4th congressional district of Texas. During Ratcliffe’s tenure in Congress, he served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 2019 until his move to DNI the following year.
Ratcliffe’s confirmation this time has drawn support from some Democrats, including the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mark Warner of Virginia, who voted in favor of Ratcliffe’s confirmation.
MODERATE REPUBLICAN MURKOWSKI WILL NOT REMEMBER TRUMP PICK HEGSETH FOR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director John Ratcliffe speaks with former Attorney General John Ashcroft (R) as he arrives for a Senate intelligence confirmation hearing at the Capitol Hill on January 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. Ratcliffe, a former conservative congressman from Texas, served as Director of National Intelligence during Trump’s first term. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
During Ratcliffe’s first confirmation hearing last week, when lawmakers probed him about how he would handle the role of CIA director if confirmed, Ratcliffe said he would remove politicization and “wokeness” from the CIA’s staff agency Ratcliffe added that he plans to focus on the agency’s technology approach, saying he believes it has struggled to keep pace with technological developments occurring in the private sector.
Ratcliffe will also adopt a hawkish stance chinaaccording to people close to Ratcliffe, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.
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Ratcliffe’s confirmation makes him the second of Trump’s nominees to win congressional approval, after Marco Rubio. The Republican-controlled Senate said it plans to work overtime to get the rest of Trump’s nominees quickly approved, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune insisted in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Tuesday evening, that they would work “nights, weekends, breaks.” “until the process is complete.
