President Trump said Friday that he will not nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) to be the director of national intelligence (DNI), just days after announcing plans for the Texas congressman to replace Daniel Coats.
The President blamed the media for treating Ratcliffe “very unfairly” in a series of tweets on Friday, saying that Ratcliffe had decided to stay in Congress and withdraw his name from consideration.
“Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media. Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country. I will be announcing my nomination for DNI shortly,” President Trump tweeted.
The President’s announcement came after days of harsh criticism from Democrats of Ratcliffe’s background and past statements critical of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
While testifying on Capitol Hill, former special counsel Robert Mueller was grilled by Rep. Ratcliffe for his report findings on alleged obstruction of justice by President Trump. Ratcliffe explained that Mueller’s findings violated Justice Department policy and the “bedrock principle of our justice system.”
Ratcliffe raised a concern about Mueller’s report saying that while the probe did not establish Trump committed a crime, it also did not exonerate him. “The special counsel’s job didn’t say you were to determine Trump’s innocence or to exonerate him,” Ratcliffe explained. “It’s not in documents, it’s not in the Office of Legal Counsel opinion, any justice manual… Respectfully, it was not the special counsel’s job to conclusively determine Trump’s innocence.” [Emphasized] (Continued Below)
Ratcliffe added, “Because the bedrock principle of our justice system is a presumption of innocence–everyone is entitled to it, including a sitting president, and because of a presumption of innocence, a prosecutor never, ever needs to determine it. You wrote 180 pages about decisions that weren’t reached, about potential crimes that weren’t charged or decided.”
He declared that the obstruction section of the report “was not authorized under the law to be written– it was written under a legal standard that does not exist at the Justice Department.” [Emphasized]
Democrat lawmakers, former Obama officials, and the leftwing media became unhinged after President Trump nominated Ratcliffe because the Texas Congressman exposed Mueller for violating DOJ policy and he ruined their impeachment game. (Continued Below)
The media scrambled to dig up anything and everything on Ratcliffe and claimed that the Congressman was “not qualified” to be the director of national intelligence. Further, some called him a partisan hack, accused him of bullying Mueller, and suggested his questioning of Mueller was an audition for DNI.
Former CIA Director John Brennan accused Ratcliffe of being a “servile Trump loyalist.” Joe Scarborough claimed, “Ratcliffe delivered one of the most intellectually dishonest (or downright stupid) performances in the Mueller hearings.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote on Twitter, “It’s clear Rep. Ratcliffe was selected because he exhibited blind loyalty to @realDonaldTrump with his demagogic questioning of Mueller. If Senate Republicans elevate such a partisan player to a position requiring intelligence expertise & non-partisanship, it’d be a big mistake.”
Ratcliffe took to twitter and pushed back against his critics and wrote, “I made the Special Counsel admit that he applied a legal standard and burden of proof to President Trump that our justice system has never applied to any other person. I’m not sorry.” [Emphasized]
He also included a picture of Winston Churchill with a quote that reads, “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up something, sometime in your life.” (Continued Below)
The Texas Congressman also thanked President Trump for the nomination: “While I am and will remain very grateful to the President for his intention to nominate me as Director of National Intelligence, I am withdrawing from consideration. I was humbled and honored that the President put his trust in me to lead our nation’s intelligence operations and remain convinced that when confirmed, I would have done so with the objectivity, fairness and integrity that our intelligence agencies need and deserve.”
He added, “However, I do not wish for a national security and intelligence debate surrounding my confirmation, however untrue, to become a purely political and partisan issue. The country we all love deserves that it be treated as an American issue. Accordingly, I have asked the President to nominate someone other than me for this position.”
Official tweets:
….John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country. I will be announcing my nomination for DNI shortly.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019
I made the Special Counsel admit that he applied a legal standard and burden of proof to President Trump that our justice system has never applied to any other person. I’m not sorry. pic.twitter.com/cCVFa4kZR3
— John Ratcliffe (@RepRatcliffe) August 3, 2019
(Video Below)
I was humbled and honored that the President put his trust in me to lead our nation’s intelligence operations and remain convinced that when confirmed, I would have done so with the objectivity, fairness and integrity that our intelligence agencies need and deserve.
— John Ratcliffe (@RepRatcliffe) August 2, 2019
Accordingly, I have asked the President to nominate someone other than me for this position.
— John Ratcliffe (@RepRatcliffe) August 2, 2019
We leave you with Rep. Ratcliffe explaining more:
Sometimes the book is better than the movie. Democrats paid a heavy price for dragging a reluctant Robert Mueller, who was not familiar with the terms of his own report, to center stage. This was on display very clearly and, at times, very painfully before the American people. pic.twitter.com/1Anya9yQS9
— John Ratcliffe (@RepRatcliffe) July 25, 2019
(Related: Ratcliffe Previews The Wave Of ‘Accountability’ That’s Bound For Comey, Brennan, Clapper & More)
