Heinrich Statement On President Trump Again Nominating Rep. Ratcliffe To Be Director Of National Intelligence

WASHINGTON (March 3, 2020) – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement in response to President Trump’s nomination of U.S. Representative John Ratcliffe to be the Director of National Intelligence:

“It is more important than ever to get the facts straight about Russian interference in our elections. Yet this president is more interested in purging the intelligence community because he doesn’t like what it has to say. It wasn’t enough to replace acting DNI Joseph Maguire, a long-time intelligence professional, whom the president blamed for having the audacity to brief Congress on Russian election interference. He then replaced Maguire as acting DNI with Richard Grenell, a loyalist with no intelligence experience. The president now plans to nominate for DNI Congressman John Ratcliffe, the same unqualified candidate whom he nominated for this position last year. It appears that the president’s chief aim is not to protect the integrity of our elections but to prevent information about Russian interference from getting to the American people."