Trump's pick for intel chief pick promises to keep politics out of coronavirus origins
Despite his reputation as a Trump loyalist, Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas repeatedly pledged on Tuesday that he would, if confirmed as the next leader of the U.S. intelligence community, seek out and deliver to Congress and the White House the unvarnished truth on a range of national security issues, including the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s easy to promise not to alter intelligence products during a hearing. It’s impossible to know what he’ll do “until he’s in the job with the red editing pen in his hand staring at the [president’s daily brief],” wrote Cindy Otis, a former CIA analyst and author of a forthcoming book on disinformation, in a text message to Yahoo News.
Ratcliffe repeatedly insisted in response to various questions from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee during his confirmation hearing Tuesday that he would “speak truth to power,” and tell President Trump what the intelligence community believes and how confident they are in those conclusions, even if it puts his job at risk.
“I mean, do I think China made up the numbers about how many were infected? Yes,” said Walder, who recently published a memoir called “The Unexpected Spy.” “But I think the idea that this originated as a bioweapon in a lab, that’s absolutely ridiculous. We need to step back and look at what the intelligence is saying.”
During the hearing, Ratcliffe deftly avoided coming to specific conclusions about a number of politically sensitive issues, such as Russian interference in the 2016 election in favor of Trump, Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal at the time Trump withdrew and whether he’d defend whistleblowers.
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