Trump says spy chief stepping down

President Donald Trump said on Sunday the nation’s top intelligence official, Dan Coats, would leave his post next month and that he would nominate Republican congressman John Ratcliffe to replace him.

“I am pleased to announce that highly respected Congressman John Ratcliffe of Texas will be nominated by me to be the Director of National Intelligence,” Trump said on Twitter.

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Coats, the current US director of national intelligence who has clashed with Trump over assessments involving Russia, Iran and North Korea, will step down on August 15, the president said as he announced his decision on Twitter.

“John will lead and inspire greatness for the Country he loves,” Trump said, thanking Coats “for his great service to our Country” and saying an acting director will be named shortly.

Ratcliffe, a member of the House of Representatives intelligence and judiciary committees, defended Trump during former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony on Wednesday about his two-year investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible obstruction of justice.

Ratcliffe also accused Mueller of exceeding his authority in the report’s extensive discussion of potential obstruction of justice by Trump after the special counsel decided not to draw a conclusion on whether Trump committed a crime.

The congressman agreed that Trump was not above the law, but said the president should not be “below the law” either.

A former US attorney and mayor of Heath, Texas, a Dallas suburb, Ratcliffe has also worked at a law firm run by former attorney general John Ashcroft, a Missouri conservative.

Ratcliffe joined Congress in 2015 and some Republican Party leaders had pushed for him to be named US attorney general last year after Trump ousted Jeff Sessions from that role.

The congressman helped lead a congressional investigation into 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of private email servers and former FBI director James Comey’s decision not to recommend criminal charges against her.

Sources familiar with the recent history of congressional oversight of the intelligence community said they were not familiar with any particular accomplishments or history that would qualify Ratcliffe for the DNI position.

Ratcliffe has only served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which oversees the US intelligence agencies along with its U.S. Senate counterpart, for six months.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, criticized Trump’s choice, saying “it’s clear that Rep. Ratcliffe was selected because he exhibited blind loyalty to President Trump with his demagogic questioning of ... Mueller.

“If Senate Republicans elevate such a partisan player to a position that requires intelligence expertise and non-partisanship, it would be a big mistake,” Schumer said in a statement.