MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: President Trump has named Jay Clayton to serve as the next director of national intelligence. Clayton appears to be an uncontroversial nominee. He currently serves as a federal prosecutor. He previously led the Securities and Exchange Commission. But the president's pick comes too late to avoid some big collateral damage. NPR Congress reporter Eric McDaniel is here in the studio to tell us more. Hi, Eric.
ERIC MCDANIEL, BYLINE: Hey.
KELLY: OK, first, start by telling us a little bit more about Jay Clayton.
MCDANIEL: I mean, more or less the most important thing people need to know is that he's being received well in the Senate, where he needs 50 votes to be confirmed to be DNI. Republican leader John Thune and top intel Democrat Mark Warner have both expressed some optimism around the pick. In addition to being a prosecutor and former SEC head, Clayton was an accomplished attorney in the private sector, and while he's been the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, the office has done a couple high-profile things, not least of which is the indictment of former Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro. And his biggest potential? He's been confirmed by the Senate before and follows up a pick last week by president for an acting DNI, someone else, that went over like a lead balloon in the Capitol.
KELLY: Right, not least because that pick had no discernible national security credentials.
MCDANIEL: Right. We are talking about Bill Pulte. The president picked him to replace the current director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, on a temporary acting basis. Pulte, for those playing along at home, is best known not for any policy priorities he's advanced as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, but instead as a partisan attack dog for the president - as the guy who used mortgage documents to allege that the president's perceived foes, people like Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, of California have committed fraud. Schiff denies wrongdoing. Pulte was also a big cheerleader in Trump's attempt to push out former fed chair Jerome Powell.
KELLY: And Congress did not like that.
MCDANIEL: No, Congress didn't like how he used his post at this federal housing agency to go after the president's enemies. In fact, it led Democrats, including huge intelligence community boosters like Connecticut Representative Jim Himes and Mark Warner, to block the attention of this big deal spy tool called FISA 702. This is a tool that's been a pillar of U.S. national intelligence for 20-some - or for almost 20 years. It allows the government to collect electronic communications of hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals located outside of the U.S. each year - think calls, texts, emails - and it's going to lapse, starting tomorrow, in large part because of how mad Democrats were that Pulte might use the spy agency to attack Trump's foes, like he did at the housing agency. The House isn't even expected to be back in Washington to vote on a renewal until the week of June 22.
KELLY: OK, couple of quick questions - one, could Pulte still come in and be acting DNI while we wait and Clayton gets a confirmation vote?
MCDANIEL: President Trump was asked about this just a little earlier today in the Oval Office. He said Pulte would be there, quote, "for a short while," but he didn't say how long.
KELLY: OK. Now, second, go back for a moment to that surveillance tool, FISA 702, that you mentioned that is lapsing. But is it still going to lapse? Where does that stand now?
MCDANIEL: It is still going to lapse. Both chambers of Congress have left town. That's bad in that it shows the president doesn't have a lot of regard for congressional realities right now. He didn't even have to announce Pulte when he did. It was sort of an unforced rake stump (ph), but it's not so scary because FISA can still be used for many months under existing authorization. So unless a lot of telecom companies stop providing these communications, which is unlikely but not impossible, the government will still be able to use it without issue to keep track of big threats to things like the World Cup and America's 250th celebrations.
KELLY: OK, real quick - timeline for Clayton to get a confirmation vote.
MCDANIEL: Next Wednesday at 2 p.m. - this was announced almost immediately. I can't imagine he'll have any trouble getting through, but he might face some really tough questions from some senators.
KELLY: NPR's Eric McDaniel - thanks, Eric.
MCDANIEL: Thank you.
