Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump's nominee for Director of National Intelligence, accepted responsibility on Wednesday for insufficient redactions in a batch of files related to Jeffrey Epstein's victims. Speaking at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Clayton described the January release as a "technical review error" and stated that accountability rested with him.
The unsealed files reportedly included addresses and nude photographs of potential Epstein victims, which lawyers for the survivors said re-traumatized them and disrupted their lives.
Clayton, who currently serves as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, acknowledged that his office was involved in investigating parts of the Epstein case. He was personally tasked by a judge to certify that grand jury material, when unsealed, would not disclose victims' personal information. "For the Southern District documents, it was me," Clayton told Senator Martin Heinrich when asked about accountability.
This hearing marks Clayton's appearance before the committee roughly one month after President Trump abruptly canceled a previous confirmation hearing via a social media post. At the time, Trump stated the hearing would not proceed until Jamie McDonald was confirmed as U.S. Attorney and the SAVE America Act was passed, with Bill Pulte remaining as Acting Director of National Intelligence.
Senator Mark Warner, the committee's ranking member, noted the unusual circumstances, referencing the urgency to confirm a Director of National Intelligence, especially with Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act having lapsed in mid-June. "I know you had nothing to do with that," Warner said to Clayton, referring to the cancellation. "So I guess congratulations about getting finally in front of this committee."
Clayton's lack of formal national security experience is considered his primary vulnerability. Committee Chairman Tom Cotton sought to mitigate this, characterizing Clayton's role as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York as leading "perhaps the number one national security-related U.S. Attorney's office in the country." Clayton's office previously prosecuted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and he also chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission from 2017 through the COVID-19 pandemic, a period Senator Mike Rounds described as one of "significant uncertainty for financial markets."
Clayton asserted that "national security and economic security are synonymous." He also noted an existing working relationship with CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Clayton was Trump's second choice for the DNI position. His first nominee, Federal Housing Finance Agency head Bill Pulte, faced criticism for lacking intelligence experience. The DNI vacancy arose following Tulsi Gabbard's resignation to support her husband during cancer treatment.