Trump nominates Jay Clayton as top US intelligence official after pushback on Bill Pulte

US president had faced widespread criticism of his decision to install a controversial ally, Bill Pulte

Donald Trump has nominated Jay Clayton, former head of the top US markets watchdog, to be the country’s leading intelligence official.

The US president faced widespread criticism of his decision to install a controversial ally, Bill Pulte, as acting director of national intelligence while searching for a permanent candidate.

Clayton, former chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, is US attorney for the southern district of New York.

Like Pulte, Clayton has no significant operational experience in any of the 18 agencies producing and analyzing intelligence for the Pentagon and the president that the directorate coordinates.

There were early signs of a bipartisan support for his appointment, however. Clayton has been a Wall Street corporate attorney for most of his career.

“I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible,” Trump wrote in a statement on his Truth Social platform.

As the financial system began its descent into turmoil in 2007 and 2008, Clayton played a pivotal role in negotiating bailouts and buyouts, including the fire sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase, Berkshire Hathaway’s rescue of Goldman Sachs, and the sale of Lehman Brothers’ distressed assets to Barclays Capital.

Some of his Wall Street work and potential conflicts of interest came under scrutiny when he was nominated to lead the SEC in 2017. Clayton represented Ally Financial in the $25bn “robo-signing” foreclosure fraud settlement with the federal government.

Clayton’s defense of Deutsche Bank in a sanctions-evasion case involving Russian oligarchs is likely to receive a fresh look. In the “mirror trades” case, Russian clients used Deutsche Bank to buy dual-listed Russian securities in rubles in Moscow while selling the same securities for US dollars or British pounds in other markets. Ten days into Trump’s first term in office, New York state regulators settled the case for $425m.

As the US attorney in Manhattan, Clayton oversees the largest and most prestigious of the justice department’s prosecution offices, with a vast portfolio ranging from terrorism and espionage cases to security fraud and public corruption.

Trump has doubled down on naming Pulte acting director even as he emphasized it would be a short-term job. The president said he wanted Pulte to downsize the office, which has already been significantly scaled back in his second term.

Tulsi Gabbard said she needed to leave the post as director of national intelligence