Transcript of Trump’s DNI Pick Under Fire on Capitol Hill

Donald Trump is panicking this morning as his nominee to become the Director of National Intelligence, a guy by the name of Jay Clayton, who currently serves as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, just completely froze and collapsed under pressure during a Senate hearing. He was grilled and cross-examined by Democratic Senator Ossoff. Let me show you what went down when Senator Ossoff asked a basic question: who won the 2020 election? Watch as Donald Trump's pick quite literally melts down and goes silent and just freezes up. Here, play this clip.

Yes.

Who won the 2020 election?

You know, I'm not— I'm not going to do this with you.

This is a job interview. We have established that you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. Yes, you do have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee.

Yes.

Who won the 2020 election?

Like I said, I'm not, I'm not going to get into that with you.

But you do have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee.

Is anything that I just said not honest or forthright?

Yes, you're not being honest or forthright. Who won the 2020 election?

I think I've answered the question. We can keep doing this.

Well, we're going to keep doing it because you're not being honest and forthright.

I'm not going to engage in the theater.

It's a simple question, Mr. Clayton.

And I've answered—

Who won the 2020 presidential election?

I've answered it.

You're here asking for the support of senators to lead America's intelligence community. We've established that you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with this committee and with the American public, but you refuse to answer a simple matter of fact about the 2020 election. Is that right?

No, that's not right.

Then answer the question. Who won the 2020 election?

I have answered the question.

Answer it. What is your answer?

I've given you my answer.

What is your answer? You refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election.

No, I—

But you ask to lead America's intelligence community? Isn't it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge The president's delusions. We know, you know, everybody in this room knows the truthful answer to that question. Why can you not give it?

I think I gave you the answer.

Are you aware that Director Gabbard—

more cross-examination here by Senator Ossoff of Jay Clayton, reminding you this is who Donald Trump wants to lead the Office for the Director of National Intelligence, like the top intelligence job, is this guy right here. Watch what goes down next. Let's play this clip.

Are you aware that Director Gabbard was present at the Fulton County raid in Georgia earlier this year?

You, uh, you discussed that with me yesterday in your office.

Are you aware that Director Gabbard was present at the Fulton County raid earlier this year?

You, you brought it to me.

What is going on here? You've said at the beginning of this you have an obligation to be honest and forthright with the committee. I'm asking a very A very simple question. Are you aware of it? Director Gabbard was present at the Fulton County raid earlier this year. Yes or no?

Are you aware?

I was—

You won't answer that question?

I just said I was made aware of it by you yesterday.

The first time you learned that Director Gabbard was present at that raid was in my office yesterday?

It was the first time that, in my recollection, I've thought about it recently. Now, was I aware of it before?

What?

Um, you I mean, you brought it to my attention yesterday. I had not thought—

so you had not known?

I had not—

I had not thought about it until you brought it to my attention.

Your answers lack credibility. Your testimony lacks credibility. You're being evasive and you're not being candid or forthright, and everybody across the country is going to watch this and know that. Are you aware that former Director Graber testified that her presence at the raid was, quote, requested by the president?

I'm not aware of that until now.

Okay, you are now aware of that?

Yeah.

And then Senator Ossoff continues to grill, uh, Jay Clayton about Donald Trump pardoning Juan Orlando Hernandez, one of the top narco drug traffickers in the world, in history, worked with Sinaloa, worked with El Chapo, brought in huge quantities of drugs. And then in order for Donald Trump to continue to launch these silent coups of countries in the Western Hemisphere, Donald Trump pardoned Juan Orlando Hernandez. Here, let's play this clip.

You have an obligation to be honest and forthright with this committee, correct?

Yes.

And Is it the case in the Juan Orlando Hernandez case that the president of the United States pardoned a man who had worked with the Sinaloa Cartel to facilitate massive narcotrafficking into the United States?

Um, I, I don't remember the specifics of that case.

He was convicted in your district.

He was convicted. I'm just— we, we convict a lot of people for a lot of drugs.

Convicted of narcotrafficking, yes. Um, I believe so. At massive scale, yes.

Well, you're telling me what I know. That's kind of, um, I— he was, he was, I believe— look, I'll take your word for it. He was a convicted narcotrafficker.

Did the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, pardon a convicted narcotrafficker?

I, I believe we just discussed that. The president provided a pardon.

Yes.

Yes or no, did the President of the United States pardon a convicted narcotrafficker?

Yes.

Who—

this hearing got so out of hand. It was such an absolute disaster that the chair of the committee, MAGA Republican Tom Clayton— Tom Cotton was crashing out at the end of Jay Clayton's hearing here. Play this clip.

Thank you, Mr. Clayton, for your testimony today. Do we have time for any follow-up questions? No, they're not. Second round. The Capitol Police will receive the annoying— or remove the annoying lunatic from the crowd.

Israel and laundering money through World Liberty Financial and the digital asset—

I apologize to lunatics for comparing that guy to them. Mr. Clayton, thank you for your testimony today. As a reminder, we expect to have here have a vote next week. Members, questions for the records will be due today at 5:30. Mr. Clayton, I trust you can respond to those no later than 5:30 on Friday.

This hearing is adjourned. But then you had people like Senator King saying, no, no, we want to know your answer to these basic questions. Here, play this clip.

So I want to ask a follow-up question to the vice chairman. Who won the 2020 election?

I've answered that question. I'm not going to get into that.

You have not answered that question. Could you answer the question? Who won the 2020 election? Pretty simple question.

Yeah, I said I'm— I'm gonna give you the same answer. The answer to the chairman was, I'm— he asked me if I was an election denier. I am not an election denier. Joe Biden was certified as the president. He went through his process. We went through our electoral process, and I can tell you that I was I was in my seat at the SEC and—

I'm just asking you a really simple question. Who won the 2020 election?

As I said to you, we went through our processes and Joe Biden became the president of the United States.

And that's it. That's not an answer to the question of who— I'm asking one more time. Who won the 2020 election?

I don't—

I'm not— this is like, I'm just not— I'm here to talk about my qualifications.

One of your qualifications is you told us you're going to tell the truth to power, and you won't answer a very simple question.

I think I've, I think I've answered it many times.

You have not answered it.

Okay.

You have not answered it. Saying Gov. Joe Biden was certified is not an answer.

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Now, the stakes could not be higher right now to have somebody as the Director of National Intelligence who knows what the hell they're doing. And who doesn't behave that way. Isn't that just like an objective thing that I'm saying right there? Um, I mean, like, who would want that guy to lead our intelligence community, essentially? I mean, we know that last night Donald Trump held a meeting, according to Trump's personal stenographer, Barak Ravid, over at Axios. Trump held a meeting last night in the White House Situation Room to discuss plans for a new wave of massive and devastating attacks against Iran, which will be more extensive than the bombings currently taking place in the Strait of Hormuz area. It should be noted that Iran claims that over 30 people in Iran have already been killed from these attacks by the United States. Iran claims that the US is targeting civilian infrastructure like wheat processing facilities, petrochemical, uh, facilities, uh, and other critical civilian infrastructure. The Trump regime and CENTCOM, uh, deny that. Iran though has made it very clear that it will cut off all transit. This was the video I made this morning in and out of the Red Sea with its control of the, uh, Houthis, or its alliance with the Houthis in Yemen, should the Trump regime continue to escalate.

Iran says that's their next move, shutting down the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea, the same way the Strait of Hormuz is shut down right now. In the Persian Gulf. And if you just take a look at the marine traffic, you can see that the only ships that are leaving right now are going through the IRGC-directed route, and there's no other traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Now, what's the Trump regime doing? At 6:00 AM Eastern time this morning, US Central Command forces launched another wave of strikes against Iran. Uh, as CENTCOM puts it, the strikes are designed to further degrade the military capabilities against Iranian forces. But as I shared with you earlier this morning, Iran has not had their capabilities degraded. They're striking harder in Kuwait, in Jordan, in Bahrain, um, uh, in Fujairah, in this UAE pipeline that they're trying to build to get around the Strait of Hormuz. You've had, um, these strikes, you know, deeper into the Persian Gulf. Iran sending a message that any effort to try to avoid the Strait of Hormuz through pipelines, through the United Arab Emirates, or through other routes to try to route it, you know, away from the Strait of Hormuz.

That's where Iran is attacking. And lots of tankers are saying, we're just not gonna go and do that. So shipping out of the Strait of Hormuz has hit a complete shutdown, as I've been warning about. Our strategic reserves here in the United States continue to get depleted. So Donald Trump just put out a statement as well, saying Iran just called, they want to make a deal. And then that caused the stock market to rise. I'm not making this up. I'm not like— this isn't a parody. Donald Trump this morning said Iran wants to make a deal. They've called, they really want to do a deal, and that caused the stock market to rise on that. Now, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran have shown that any aggression against Iranian territory will definitely be met with a reciprocal response. We have no plans for negotiations at the moment and are focused on defense. The memorandum of understanding is a set of mutual obligations, and in the event of a violation by the other party, we will also refrain from implementing our obligations. This is a principle, and the same path will be followed in the future.

To which Donald Trump responded this morning by trying to co-opt the fame of Taylor Swift. By saying Swift and Kelsey's mystery dog debuts at Trump Airport in West Palm, and Trump goes, so cool. Also, as the American people are suffering today, Treasury Secretary Bessin says, as America commemorates 250 years of independence, the US Mint will begin striking a new $1 gold coin to honor the enduring legacy of liberty and lasting symbol of patriotism. Featuring Donald Trump's face on it. They're doing a $1 gold coin. Uh, federal law requires a president to be dead for 2 years before appearing on a US coin, but the Treasury says we're making an exception cuz this is a commemorative coin, although it can be used. Oh, meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of 7 senior Navy officers, including 5 women and people of color without publicly explaining why. And you have Laura Ingraham over of state, over at state regime media, which calls itself Fox, saying a CNBC report came out and they listed that the 10 worst states to live in for 2026 are states that Trump won. And there's a lot of businesses going into the state, but it's the worst place to live.

How could it be that if businesses are going in there that the people are suffering? Maybe it's because the people are being treated like absolute crap and exploited in these areas. You're very close to getting it, Laura. Here, play this clip.

Now check out this recent list. 650 CEOs were polled and they rated the best states in which to do business. The top 10, including Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, are Republican. They're run by Republicans except Virginia, which is at number 10, and North Carolina. Kind of a purple state at number 5. So money and people, resources, are pouring into red states. So how do the socialists brush this off? Well, they do so either by ignoring it or distorting the data, or with a little help from their friends. This CNBC report just comes out. They listed the 10 worst states to live in for 2026. All the states on this list, okay, Trump won. Every state. Except Georgia in 2020. And the list included 4 of the top 10 states for business. How does that make any sense? They had kind of a weird calculus there, but this is obviously a blatant effort to dismiss and denigrate more conservative states. But it's really nothing new.

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