HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

John Lee Ratcliffe (born October 20, 1965) is an American politician and attorney who served as the
Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Co ...
from 2020 to 2021. He previously served as the U.S. representative for
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
's
4th district Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
from 2015 to 2020. During his time in Congress, Ratcliffe was regarded as one of the most conservative members. Ratcliffe also served as Mayor of
Heath, Texas Heath is a city in Rockwall and Kaufman counties, Texas, United States. The population was 6,921 at the 2010 census, up from 4,149 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History A proposition was placed on the Novem ...
, from 2004 to 2012 and as acting
United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
for the Eastern District of Texas from May 2007 to April 2008. President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
announced on July 28, 2019, that he intended to nominate Ratcliffe to replace
Dan Coats Daniel Ray Coats (born May 16, 1943) is an American politician, attorney, and former diplomat. From 2017 to 2019, he served as the Director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a ...
as Director of National Intelligence. Ratcliffe withdrew after Republican senators raised concerns about him, former intelligence officials said he might politicize intelligence, and media revealed Ratcliffe's embellishments regarding his prosecutorial experience in terrorism and immigration cases. On February 28, 2020, President Trump announced that he would again nominate Ratcliffe to be
Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Co ...
, and after Senate approval, he resigned from the House, and was sworn in on May 26. At his confirmation hearing, amid concerns that Ratcliffe would politicize the DNI, Ratcliffe pledged to be apolitical. However, during his tenure as DNI, Ratcliffe was regarded as using the DNI to score political points for Trump. Ratcliffe made public assertions that contradicted the intelligence community's own assessments, and sidelined career officials in the intelligence community.


Early life and education

Born in
Mount Prospect, Illinois Mount Prospect is a village in Elk Grove and Wheeling Townships in Cook County, Illinois, about northwest of downtown Chicago, and approximately 4 miles north of O'Hare International Airport. As of the 2020 census, the village had a total ...
, northwest of
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, Ratcliffe was the youngest of six children; both of his parents were teachers. He graduated from
Carbondale Community High School Carbondale Community High School is a public high school located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. It serves grades 9-12 and is part of its own school district, having several different feeder schools within the city and outside of it. In 2 ...
in Carbondale, Illinois; from the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main c ...
in 1987 with a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
and
International Studies International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...
; and the Southern Methodist University School of Law (now Dedman School of Law) with a
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...
in 1989.


Career prior to Congress

After graduating from law school, Ratcliffe was a lawyer in private practice. Ratcliffe was elected to four consecutive two-year terms as mayor of
Heath, Texas Heath is a city in Rockwall and Kaufman counties, Texas, United States. The population was 6,921 at the 2010 census, up from 4,149 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History A proposition was placed on the Novem ...
, a city of about 7,000 people, 25 miles east of downtown Dallas. He served in that position from June 2004 to May 2012.


Eastern District of Texas

In 2004,
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
George W. Bush appointed Ratcliffe to be the Chief of Anti-Terrorism and National Security for the Eastern District of Texas, within the U.S. Department of Justice. In May 2007, Ratcliffe was named interim U.S. Attorney for the district. Ratcliffe returned to private law practice when Rebecca Gregory was confirmed by the Senate as the permanent U.S. Attorney for the district in April 2008. Ratcliffe's campaign website said that, as a federal prosecutor Ratcliffe "personally managed dozens of international and domestic terrorism investigations involving some of the nation’s most sensitive security matters" and "put terrorists in prison." There is, however, no evidence Ratcliffe ever prosecuted a terrorism case. Ratcliffe also misrepresented his involvement in the U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case, claiming “there are individuals that currently sit in prison because I prosecuted them for funneling money to terrorist groups." ABC News reported that there was no evidence in public court records that Ratcliffe was involved in the case, and that former officials and attorneys involved in the case could not recall that Ratcliffe was involved. Ratcliffe's official House of Representatives biography says that while working as prosecutor for the Eastern District, he "arrested 300 illegal aliens in a single day". ''The Washington Post'' noted in a story about how Ratcliffe embellished his record that Ratcliffe played a supporting role in an effort to bust illegal immigrants and that his office arrested only 45 individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants (including two who turned out to be American citizens). Officials involved in the immigration enforcement dispute that Ratcliffe played a central role in the raid.


2009–2014

In 2009, Ratcliffe became a partner with former Attorney General
John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th ...
in the law firm Ashcroft, Sutton, Ratcliffe. In 2012, Ratcliffe was part of a transition team, established before that year's general election by Republican candidate
Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts ...
, to vet potential Presidential appointees.


U.S. House of Representatives


2014 election

In late 2013, Ratcliffe announced that he would run in the Republican primary against 17-term incumbent Congressman
Ralph Hall Ralph Moody Hall (May 3, 1923 – March 7, 2019) was an American politician who served as the United States representative for from 1981 to 2015. He was first elected in 1980, and was the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Tec ...
of the
4th district Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
. At 91, Hall was the oldest member of Congress and the oldest person ever to serve in the House of Representatives. The ''
Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...
'' said that Ratcliffe was Hall's "most serious political challenge in years." No Democrat even filed, meaning that whoever won the primary would be all but assured of victory in November. In a primary campaign during which Hall had begun to look increasingly vulnerable, Ratcliffe received the endorsement of the ''Dallas Morning News'', which applauded Hall's long record of public service but cited Ratcliffe's "impressive credentials" and the need for "new ideas and fresh energy." In the March 4 primary, Ratcliffe finished second with 29 percent of the vote, behind Hall's 45 percent. Because Hall came up short of a majority, a
runoff election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...
was required. For the May 27 runoff, Ratcliffe was endorsed by the
Tea Party Express The Tea Party Express is a California-based group founded in the summer of 2009 to support the Tea Party movement. Founded as a national bus tour to rally Tea Party activists, the group's leadership also endorses and promotes conservative candida ...
, the
Senate Conservatives Fund The Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) is a United States political action committee (PAC) that supports conservative Republican Party candidates in primaries and general elections. The SCF primarily focuses on supporting United States Senate candid ...
, and the
Club for Growth The Club for Growth is a 501(c)(4) conservative organization active in the United States, with an agenda focused on cutting taxes and other economic policy issues. Club for Growth's largest funders are the billionaires Jeff Yass and Richard U ...
. Hall was endorsed by the
National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
, former Congressman
Ron Paul Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, physician and retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, as well ...
, former Congresswoman
Michele Bachmann Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for President of the United States in the 20 ...
, and former
Arkansas Governor The governor of Arkansas is the head of government of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the Arkansas government and is charged with enforcing state laws. They have the power to either approve or v ...
Mike Huckabee Michael Dale Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician, Baptist minister, and political commentator who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomina ...
. Ratcliffe defeated Hall with 53 percent of the vote, the first time in twenty years that a sitting Republican congressman in Texas had been ousted in a primary. Ratcliffe was one of four candidates to defeat a sitting incumbent U.S. representative in a primary election in 2014. In the November 2014 general election, Ratcliffe ran unopposed. With a
Cook Partisan Voting Index The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated Cook PVI, CPVI, or PVI, is a measurement of how strongly a United States congressional district or U.S. state leans toward the Democratic or Republican Party, compared to the nation as a whole, based ...
of R+25, it is the fifth most Republican district in Texas and is tied for the 13th most Republican in the nation.


2016 election

On March 1, 2016, Ratcliffe easily defeated two challengers in the Republican primary, getting 68 percent of the vote, 47 percentage points ahead of the second-place finisher. Once again, no Democrat filed to run in the November general election. In the general election, Ratcliffe defeated a third-party candidate with 88% of the vote.


2018 election

On November 6, 2018, Ratcliffe won re-election to a third term with nearly 76 percent of the vote, defeating Democratic challenger Catherine Krantz and Libertarian challenger Ken Ashby.


Tenure

When Ratcliffe took office on January 3, 2015; he became only the fifth person to represent the 4th District since its creation in 1903. All but one of his predecessors had held the seat for at least 25 years. The ''Dallas Morning News'' said in April 2016 that "Ratcliffe's first term in Washington proves that freshman lawmakers can be players of consequence in Congress." In a September 2016 hearing of the
House Judiciary Committee The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...
, Ratcliffe questioned then-FBI Director
James Comey James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adul ...
about whether the FBI's decision not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton in connection with the email controversy came before or after Clinton was interviewed by investigations; Comey responded that the final decision had been made after the interviews. Ratcliffe subsequently suggested that the FBI had "predetermined the result" of the investigation. Ratcliffe was a member of the
Republican Study Committee The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is a study group of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. As of 2021, the Chairman of the RSC is Representative Jim Banks of Indiana. Although the prim ...
and the
Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus The Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus, a United States Congress caucus, works to improve the 9-1-1 phone system and emergency response systems.Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
by the
Trump Administration Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...
. In a March 2019 tweet, Ratcliffe asserted that former FBI attorney
Lisa Page The following is a list of controversies involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Throughout its history, the FBI has been the subject of a number of controversial cases, both at home and abroad. Files on U.S. citizens The FBI has m ...
had confirmed to him under oath that the Obama Justice Department had ordered the FBI to not consider gross negligence charges against Hillary Clinton regarding her handling of classified material. However, the June 2018 DOJ inspector general report on the matter stated that the DOJ's analysis of the relevant statute found that the FBI evidence for such a charge was lacking, and that interpretation was consistent with "prior cases under different leadership including in the 2008 decision not to prosecute former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for mishandling classified documents." Analysts also noted that the FBI does not charge individuals, rather the DOJ does, as Page clarified to Ratcliffe later in her testimony, but which Ratcliffe did not mention in his tweet. Fox News extensively reported Ratcliffe's account of the matter, which Trump tweeted about minutes later.


Committee assignments

During the 114th Congress (2015–2017), Ratcliffe sat on the
Judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
and
Homeland Security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to ...
committees, where he was a subcommittee chair on the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. During the 115th Congress (2017–19), Ratcliffe was a member of the
Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...
,
Judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
, and
Homeland Security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to ...
committees. Within the Homeland Security Committee, he was a member of the subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency and chaired the subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection. Within the Judiciary Committee, he was a member of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations and vice chairman of the
Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust is a subcommittee within the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, House Committee on the Judiciary. The Subcommittee's equivalent in ...
. During the 116th Congress (2019), Ratcliffe sat on the Ethics, Judiciary and Intelligence Committees.Official List of Standing Committees and Subcommittees for the 116th Congress
, Office of the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives.
Within the Judiciary Committee, Ratcliffe was the
ranking member In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as ''ex officio'' members ...
of the
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security The Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance is a subcommittee within the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, House Judiciary Committee. It was previously known as the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Secur ...
and a member of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet. Within the Intelligence Committee, Ratcliffe was a member of the Strategic Technologies and Advanced Research Subcommittee and Intelligence and Modernization Readiness Subcommittee.


Assignment to President Trump's impeachment team

On January 20, 2020, prior to the Senate impeachment trial, the Trump administration announced Ratcliffe as one of the congressional members of his impeachment team. Upon the announcement, Ratcliffe said, "I took an oath to defend the Constitution. This impeachment is an assault on due process. It’s an assault on the separation of powers. It's unconstitutional. I'm grateful for the opportunity to make that clear to every American during the Senate trial." Ratcliffe worked with the White House for several weeks prior to the Senate trial to prepare oral arguments and legal briefs. He was tapped for the position based on his legal background and effectiveness during impeachment proceedings in the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees.


Director of National Intelligence


Nomination

President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
announced on July 28, 2019, that he intended to nominate Ratcliffe to replace
Dan Coats Daniel Ray Coats (born May 16, 1943) is an American politician, attorney, and former diplomat. From 2017 to 2019, he served as the Director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a ...
as
Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Co ...
. Trump expressed confidence Ratcliffe could "rein in" intelligence agencies which he asserted had "run amok." Ratcliffe has little experience in national security or national intelligence and is reported to have demonstrated little engagement on the matters as a congressman. Trump's intent to nominate Ratcliffe became controversial when he was found to have misrepresented his role in prosecuting terrorism and immigration cases. Ratcliffe is well known for criticizing the FBI and the special counsel investigation as being biased against Trump. Ratcliffe has also alleged that Russian interference may have benefited Trump's 2016 rival candidate Hillary Clinton more than it benefited Trump. American intelligence agencies, the Senate Intelligence Committee and Robert Mueller have maintained that Russia interfered to help Trump. A week before Trump's announcement, Ratcliffe had argued that the special counsel investigation put Trump "below the law" because it declined to exonerate Trump. Later, Ratcliffe claimed on Fox News that the special counsel investigation's report was not written by special counsel
Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...
, but by "Hillary Clinton’s de facto legal team". Democrats asserted Ratcliffe was unqualified and too partisan to serve in such a role, which is historically considered relatively nonpartisan. Some Republicans also privately expressed discontent with his selection and concerns about his ability to be confirmed. However, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman 
Richard Burr Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is an American businessman and politician who is the senior United States senator from North Carolina, serving since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, Burr was previously a member of the United ...
 and Senator 
John Cornyn John Cornyn III ( ; born February 2, 1952) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Texas, a seat he has held since 2002. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the Senate majority whip for ...
expressed confidence in him. Democratic senators including Senate Minority Leader 
Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...
and 
Ron Wyden Ronald Lee Wyden (; born May 3, 1949) is an American politician and retired educator serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Oregon, a seat he has held since 1996 United Stat ...
, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said that Ratcliffe's only qualification for the office appeared to be "blind loyalty" to Trump, noting that he has promoted some of Trump's conspiracy theories about the Russia investigation and has called for prosecution of Trump's political enemies. Several former members of the intelligence community expressed concerns that Ratcliffe's appointment risked politicizing intelligence work. They expressed fear that with Ratcliffe as DNI, Trump would in effect be assuming personal control over the intelligence community, which would then be expected to tell him only what he wants to hear. They stressed the need for intelligence to be "candid, truthful and accurate even if it is unpleasant and does not confirm to the biases of the president". On August 2, 2019, Trump said in a tweet that he was withdrawing Ratcliffe's name from nomination, claiming that
mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...
scrutiny of Ratcliffe (though using the "lamestream" pejorative in the actual message) was unfair, and would result in "months of slander and libel," while White House sources said that Trump had become concerned about Ratcliffe's chances for confirmation, following feedback from some Republican senators. Speaking to reporters later that day, Trump insisted the press had treated Ratcliffe unfairly, but he also stated that he liked the way the press vetted his nominees, saying "You vet for me." In his formal statement withdrawing from consideration, Ratcliffe said, "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." On February 28, 2020,
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
publicly announced Ratcliffe to be his nominee for
Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Co ...
. On February 29, 2020, Sen.
Mark Warner Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th governo ...
, vicechair of the
Senate Intelligence Committee The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (sometimes referred to as the Intelligence Committee or SSCI) is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of ...
warned Trump against re-nominating Ratcliffe. The nomination came to the U.S. Senate on March 3, 2020. The U.S. Select Senate Committee on Intelligence held hearings on May 5, 2020, which started with a letter from former
U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th ...
in favor of the nomination. U.S. Senator John Cornyn introduced Ratcliffe and supported his nomination. The Committee later voted in favor of the nomination on May 19, 2020. Ratcliffe was confirmed by the Senate on May 21, 2020, by a vote of 49 to 44. He was sworn in on May 26.


2020 U.S. presidential election

Thirty-five days before the November 2020 election, Ratcliffe declassifed 2016 Russian disinformation that asserted Hillary Clinton had personally approved a scheme to associate Trump with Vladimir Putin and Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee. Ratcliffe provided the disinformation to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A member of the Republican Party, Graham chaired the Senate Committee ...
, who publicly released it. The allegation had been previously rejected as baseless by the Republican-controlled
Senate Intelligence Committee The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (sometimes referred to as the Intelligence Committee or SSCI) is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of ...
. Ratcliffe acknowledged in a letter to Graham that the intelligence community "does not know the accuracy of this allegation or the extent to which the Russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or fabrication." The intelligence community opposed the release of the information. According to the ''New York Times'', Ratcliffe's disclosure "appeared to be a bid to help Mr. Trump politically." Ratcliffe diverged from remarks prepared by the intelligence community regarding attempted election interference by Iran in the 2020 election. Ratcliffe said that the election interference was intended to "damage President Trump." In November 2020, Trump secretly offered the job of
U.S. attorney general The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
to Ratcliffe, who turned the job down.


Political positions

Ratcliffe was considered one of the most conservative members of Congress. In 2016,
The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...
ranked Ratcliffe as the most conservative Texas legislator in Congress and second-most conservative legislator in the country.


China

Ratcliffe has called for China to be stripped of rights to hold the
2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...
because of what he says are "crimes of humanity against Uyghur
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
" and alleging "a massive cover up of the (
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
) virus’s origins" and the "circumstances surrounding its initial outbreak".


Immigration

Ratcliffe supported President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
's 2017
executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of th ...
to prohibit immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries, stating, "I applaud President Trump's actions to vamp up the vetting of refugees attempting to enter our country."


Term limits

When he first ran for Congress, Ratcliffe said that term limits were a central part of his platform.


Cybersecurity

Ratcliffe was chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection during the 115th Congress (2017–19), when Republicans controlled the House.Official Alphabetical List of Standing Committee & Subcommittees for the 115th Congress
Congress Profiles: 115th Congress (2017–2019).
In March 2014, Ratcliffe oversaw a congressional hearing, "The Current State of DHS Private Sector Engagement for Cybersecurity", that studied ways to get the private sector and the
Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
to better cooperate to prevent terrorist activity. He secured testimony from various organizations: the Hitrust Alliance,
Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
Security Group, Symantec,
Palo Alto Networks Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is an American multinational cybersecurity company with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. The core products is a platform that includes advanced firewalls and cloud-based offerings that extend those firewalls to ...
, and New America's Open Technology Institute. On December 16, 2016, Barack Obama signed Ratcliffe's H.R. 5877 "United States-Israel Advanced Research Partnership Act of 2016" into public law. On November 2, 2017, Donald Trump signed Ratcliffe's H.R. 1616 "Strengthening State and Local Cyber Crime Fighting Act of 2017" into public law.


Net neutrality

In December 2017, Ratcliffe signed a letter from Congress, along with 106 other members of Congress, to Federal Communications Commission Chairman
Ajit Pai Ajit Varadaraj Pai (; born January 10, 1973) is an American lawyer who served as chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2017 to 2021. He has been a partner at the private-equity firm Searchlight Capital since April 20 ...
, supporting Pai's plan to repeal
net neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...
.


Russia probe

Ratcliffe has staunchly supported Trump's criticism of the investigations into
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections The Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the goals of harming the campaign of Hillary Clinton, boosting the candidacy of Donald Trump, and increasing political and social discord in the United States. Acc ...
, in particular the origins of the investigation, contending "it does appear that there were crimes committed during the Obama administration." Ratcliffe has stated that he has "seen no evidence" that Russian interference in the 2016 election helped get Trump elected. He has described court-approved surveillance of the Trump campaign as spying. He has claimed without evidence that the Russia probe may have been tainted by a criminal conspiracy. Days before he was announced as Trump's choice to be Director of National Intelligence, Ratcliffe drew headlines for his questioning of
Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...
during Mueller's congressional testimony. Ratcliffe criticized Mueller for describing instances of obstruction of justice in his
report A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are almost always in the form of written documents. Usage In ...
on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Ratcliffe claimed that Mueller went beyond the rules for special counsels, by covering instances of potential obstruction when the report did not charge any crimes. The Associated Press and PolitiFact found Ratcliffe's claim false, noting that special prosecutors are required by federal regulations to explain decisions not to prosecute.
Neal Katyal Neal Kumar Katyal (born March 12, 1970) is an American lawyer and academic. He is a partner at Hogan Lovells and the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center. During the Obama administrati ...
, who wrote the special counsel regulations in 1999, called Ratcliffe "dead wrong." Ratcliffe also falsely claimed that the
Steele dossier The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report written from June to December 2016, containing allegations of misconduct, conspiracy, and cooperation between Donald Trum ...
, which he described as a "fake, phony dossier", was the trigger that started the Trump-Russia probe. The House Republican intelligence committee's own memo about the Russia probe had said that it was information about
George Papadopoulos George Demetrios Papadopoulos (; born August 19, 1987) is an author and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of mak ...
that set off an investigation by the FBI in July 2016. Ratcliffe also asserted that Democrats "accused Donald Trump of a crime and then tried to reverse engineer a process to justify that accusation." Trump was reportedly impressed by Ratcliffe's aggressive questioning of Mueller, which some sources described as Ratcliffe's "audition" to be named DNI. Shortly before Trump announced he would be nominated as DNI, Ratcliffe asserted the Obama administration had committed a felony by leaking classified transcripts of 2016 phone calls between
Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who was the 24th U.S. National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He resigned in light of ...
and Russian ambassador
Sergey Kislyak Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak ( rus, Серге́й Ива́нович Кисля́к, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ kʲɪˈslʲak; born 7 September 1950) is a Russian senior diplomat and politician. Since September 2017, he has represented Mo ...
to ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. The gist of the conversations were conveyed to ''Post'' reporters, but not the transcripts themselves. He also asserted, "The Mueller report and its conclusions weren’t from Robert Mueller. They were written by what a lot of people believe was Hillary Clinton’s de facto legal team, people that had supported her, even represented some of her aides." Three days after becoming DNI in May 2020, Ratcliffe declassified and released the full transcripts, which may have made it more difficult for prosecutors to assert the earlier reporting about the gist of the calls had harmed national security. Ratcliffe said that he had seen a text message between FBI employees
Peter Strzok Peter Paul Strzok II (, like ''struck''; born March 7, 1970) is a former United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. He was the Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division and led the investigation into R ...
and
Lisa Page The following is a list of controversies involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Throughout its history, the FBI has been the subject of a number of controversial cases, both at home and abroad. Files on U.S. citizens The FBI has m ...
that referenced a "secret society," adding, "We learned today about information that in the immediate aftermath of his election, there may have been a 'secret society' of folks within the Department of Justice and the FBI, to include Page and Strzok, working against
rump Rump may refer to: * Rump (animal) ** Buttocks * Rump steak, slightly different cuts of meat in Britain and America * Rump kernel, software run in userspace that offers kernel functionality in NetBSD Politics *Rump cabinet * Rump legislature * Ru ...
" His assertion briefly went viral on pro-Trump media, and the next day Republican senator
Ron Johnson Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American accountant, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wisconsin, a seat he has held since 2011. A Republican, Johnson was first elected to the U.S. Se ...
claimed that Republican investigators had learned from an "informant" of meetings of a "secret society." The text message did contain the expression "secret society," but it was soon learned to be a joke related to Strzok's purchase of "beefcake" calendars of Vladimir Putin for distribution to FBI employees who had worked on the Russian investigation.


Personal life

Ratcliffe and his wife, Michele, live with their two daughters in
Heath, Texas Heath is a city in Rockwall and Kaufman counties, Texas, United States. The population was 6,921 at the 2010 census, up from 4,149 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History A proposition was placed on the Novem ...
.


See also

* ''
Final Report of the Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel ''Final Report of the Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel'' is a report about counterterrorism and foreign fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars by a bipartisan task force of the United States House Committee on Ho ...
''


References


External links


Director of National Intelligence
biography * * *
Money-in-Politics profile
from OpenSecrets.org , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ratcliffe, John 1965 births 21st-century American politicians Dedman School of Law alumni Living people Mayors of places in Texas People from Heath, Texas People from Mount Prospect, Illinois Rejected or withdrawn nominees to the United States Executive Cabinet Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Texas lawyers Trump administration cabinet members United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Texas United States Directors of National Intelligence University of Notre Dame alumni Members of the Congressional defense team for the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump