WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to confirm John Ratcliffe as the next CIA director under President Donald Trump, approving the second high-profile nomination for the new administration.
The vote was 74-25 in favor of Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who served as Trump’s director of national intelligence for the final eight months of his first term.
Republican leaders failed to gain unanimous support to fast-track Ratcliffe’s nomination earlier this week and had to jump through some procedural steps.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he opposed Ratcliffe “not because of our political differences, which of course exist — but because I am deeply concerned that Mr. Ratcliffe or unable to stand up to people like Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard, known for falsifying intelligence. As director of the CIA, Mr. Ratcliffe will have to make decisions based on intelligence and facts.
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, is Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence.
At his confirmation hearing, Ratcliffe promised to keep politics out of decisions involving intelligence and said he would not use loyalty tests as a basis for hiring or firing CIA personnel.
In May 2020, Ratcliffe was confirmed as Trump’s DNI by a narrow Senate vote of 49-44, facing broad Democratic opposition due to concerns about his qualifications and concerns about exaggerating credentials in national security on his CV.
Thursday’s vote came three days after the Senate voted unanimously to fast-track and confirm Marco Rubio as secretary of state hours after Trump’s inauguration.
Trump’s other nominees may have an even harder time getting quick votes than Ratcliffe, because any senator can prevent that. Any nominee facing an objection could take several days to get a confirmation vote in the Senate.
But all nominees require 51 votes to be confirmed — or 50, with Vice President JD Vance’s tie-breaking vote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., then voted on Trump’s nominees for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. Trump’s next choice to lead the Treasury Department, Scott Bessent, is expected to be discussed.
Thune threatened to keep the Senate in session through the weekend if Democrats don’t relent and allow quick votes, accusing them of “blocking President Trump’s nominees.”
“If Democrats want to spend their nights and weekends voting on non-controversial candidates, we can do it that way,” he said in a speech Thursday. “But one way or another, these candidates will be confirmed.”