Trump's pick for spy chief pressed on coronavirus origins in China

President Donald Trump's pick to be director of national intelligence, Rep. John Ratcliffe, was grilled Tuesday by senators over his views about the intelligence community's investigation into the origins
of coronavirus in China, Russian election interference and the Trump administration's treatment of whistleblowers.


Ratcliffe walked a fine line before the Senate Intelligence Committee, at the chamber's first hearing under new social distancing guidelines, between pledging to be transparent and unbiased with intelligence delivered both to the President and Congress and not wading too deeply into the controversies surrounding Trump and the intelligence community.


He faced questions from both Democrats and Republicans on whether he would provide unbiased intelligence to a President who might not want to hear it.

And whether Trump requested loyalty when he agreed to be selected for the role a second time earlier this year, following his initial withdrawal from consideration last year amid questions about exaggerations to his resume. Ratcliffe said Trump had not asked him for loyalty.

"Whether you are talking about the President, whether you are talking about Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell.

Anyone's views on what they want the intelligence to be will never impact the intelligence that I deliver. Never," Ratcliffe said in response to a question from Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a key Republican on the panel.

If confirmed as director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe would lead the 17 agencies that make up the intelligence community as head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which was created in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Ratcliffe has been prepping for Tuesday's confirmation hearing at ODNI and has met with agency heads to get their perspectives.