Senate Confirms Jay Clayton as Intelligence Director on a 51-47 Party-Line Vote, Ending Bill Pulte's Acting Tenure

The Senate voted 51 to 47 along party lines to confirm U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence, ending a months-long stalemate over the post. Clayton, who led the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump's first term and most recently served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, will oversee the 18 agencies of the intelligence community.

The vacancy dated to Tulsi Gabbard's resignation in May 2026, after which Trump named Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte as acting director despite his lack of intelligence experience. That appointment prompted nearly every Senate Democrat to oppose advancing reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which subsequently lapsed.

Clayton takes office with FISA still unrenewed. Reporting on his July 15 confirmation hearing said his remaining Democratic support eroded after he declined to state directly who won the 2020 election.