‘As long as it takes’: Trump hints at Senate stalemate and claims Democrats ‘afraid of’ his acting spy chief

Key Points:

• President Trump threatened to indefinitely keep Bill Pulte, a housing executive with no national security experience, as acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) unless senators pass his voter ID bill and confirm his personal lawyer, James McDonald, as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
• Trump canceled the confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, the current SDNY head and his nominee for DNI, disrupting a bipartisan agreement that would have included reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a key intelligence authority.
• Senate Republicans criticized Trump's move, warning it jeopardizes national security and the timely reauthorization of FISA, which is crucial for intelligence gathering and makes up 60% of the president's daily briefings.
• Trump demanded that the FISA reauthorization be combined with the SAVE America Act, a controversial voter ID bill requiring proof of citizenship, despite its lack of Senate support and the risk of filibuster.
• The political standoff has drawn condemnation from both parties, with Democrats decrying the use of national security nominations as leverage for unrelated legislation and Republicans expressing frustration over the impact on intelligence operations.