As we reported, Trump’s pick to be the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, former Director of National Intelligence in the president's first term, John Ratcliffe, sailed through his confirmation vote Thursday and, afterward, was sworn in by Vice President JD Vance.
He is now officially in charge of the spy agency.
BREAKING 🚨 Vice President Vance is swearing in John Ratcliffe as CIA Director. Historic moment
— MAGA Voice (@MAGAVoice) January 24, 2025
This is what winning looks like 🔥
pic.twitter.com/Pr6Q1E8M9D
During his confirmation hearings, he absolutely blasted Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and the truth-challenged “51 intelligence officials” who falsely claimed that Hunter Biden’s “Laptop from Hell” was Russian disinformation.
Schiff unsurprisingly voted no on Ratcliffe—but to no avail:
Background: BREAKING: Trump's Pick for CIA Director Confirmed in Senate by Wide Margin
HEARING: John Ratcliffe Roasts Adam Schiff, Sets the Record Straight on Hunter Biden Laptop
After his confirmation and swearing-in, Ratcliffe spoke with the Breitbart News Network and savaged former Obama-era CIA Director John Brennan, who was and continues to be one of the most partisan intelligence officials in modern times and who signed the aforementioned Hunter laptop letter. President Trump revoked his and the other officials’ security clearances on Monday, an act that caused the former director to whine incessantly.
Ratcliffe had little sympathy. Ok, none:
“It would be fair to say his tenure was one of the worst things that has ever happened to the Agency,” Ratcliffe told Breitbart News of Brennan on Thursday in his first interview as CIA director.
It's a new day in The Swamp:
Today, John Ratcliffe was sworn in as the 25th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. https://t.co/OAnDwMtBMl pic.twitter.com/swnpQunhAV
— CIA (@CIA) January 23, 2025
He went on to blast the weaponization of the intelligence communities and the Justice Department under Democrat rule, saying he believes it goes at least back until 2016 and the Trump-Hillary Clinton battle:
“There are challenges within the Intelligence Community and skepticism, I guess,” Ratcliffe told Breitbart News. “It’s because the American people saw examples of that. They saw the FBI misuse intelligence authorities at the FISA courts to spy on the Trump campaign. They saw through my declassification when I was DNI notes that the Intelligence Community knew in the summer of 2016 that Hillary Clinton had funded the Steele Dossier but yet it resulted in the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane and the Mueller investigation and the whole Russia collusion hoax. Then in 2020 they saw Brennan, [James] Clapper, and others amplify this lie that Adam Schiff started about Hunter Biden’s laptop being a Russian disinformation operation when everyone related to that did know and understand that there was no intelligence that supported that. Ultimately the FBI and Department of Justice used that laptop at the central piece of evidence in the prosecution of Hunter Biden and his guilty plea.”
More Brennan Malfeasance: No Shame: Intel Officials Who Signed Hunter Laptop 'Russian Disinformation' Letter Call It 'Patriotic'
The new director added that he wanted to get the Agency back to its “core mission”—protecting the nation”—and move away from the "politicization of intelligence …[which] really started under the tenure of John Brennan.”
Trump and his team have hinted that they may look into the origin of that infamous letter, which was proven false yet arguably had a big effect on the 2020 election.
If so, I’m getting marshmallows and chocolate.
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