|
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2-- U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that lawmaker John Ratcliffe will no longer be his pick to replace Dan Coats as Director of National Intelligence. "Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media," Trump tweeted. "Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people. John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country," the president went on. "I will be announcing my nomination for DNI shortly," said Trump. Shortly after Trump's announcement, Ratcliffe tweeted that he was withdrawing from consideration. "While I am and will remain very grateful to the President for his intention to nominate me as Director of National Intelligence, I am withdrawing from consideration," the lawmaker from Texas said. "I do not wish for a national security and intelligence debate surrounding my confirmation, however untrue, to become a purely political and partisan issue. The country we all love deserves that it be treated as an American issue. Accordingly, I have asked the President to nominate someone other than me for this position," the House representative from Texas added. Trump picked Ratcliffe as new chief of national intelligence on July 28, four days after Robert Mueller testified before the House Judiciary Committee, when the 53-year-old Republican fiercely questioned the former special counsel over his two-year investigation into the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and Trump's possible obstruction of justice. | 
