After public outcry, Trump has swapped one political lap dog for another to serve as Director of National Intelligence. This new nominee, Jay Clayton, has almost no experience tackling intelligence issues. What he does have is a history of golfing with a wannabe king and alleged personal financial ties to both Venezuela and Epstein — issues he has conveniently been selected to work on. 

As this administration continues to show how willing they are to abuse US intelligence information through their most recent executive orders and national security presidential memoranda, we cannot have another Trump loyalist at the helm. The Director of National Intelligence has the power to chip away at our democracy by weaponizing surveillance, pushing the spying agencies he oversees to conduct unlawful spying or otherwise allowing it, providing politically motivated surveillance directly to Trump, and even declassifying or leaking information acquired without a warrant about those who would challenge the administration. 

Democrats must hold the line against yet another loyalist being put in a position to exploit and threaten our privacy and civil liberties. Tell your senators you expect them to use all their leverage to oppose Clayton’s nomination.