Last Wednesday, “President Donald Trump announced that Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, will become acting director of national intelligence… Grenell follows Joseph Maguire, who has been acting national intelligence director since August.” (AP News)

The left criticizes the firing of Maguire and the appointment of Grenell, arguing that Grenell is unqualified and overly partisan.

The right praises Grenell, arguing that fears about his qualifications and partisanship are overblown.

Georgia Rep. Doug Collins said he was honored President Trump considered him for the position of permanent Director of National Intelligence, but that he remains committed to running for the Senate, challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler in the state’s upcoming special election.

“It is humbling. It’s amazing to have the president think that much of you, to mention my name among others to be this position,” he told Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo before explaining he has no interest in the role.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he had dropped his choice for spy chief, Representative John Ratcliffe, after questions about the congressman’s lack of experience and possible exaggerations in his resume.

WASHINGTON — Even by the standards of President Trump’s administration, Rep. John Ratcliffe’s troubled nomination to run America’s intelligence services died quickly.

Trump announced Ratcliffe’s withdrawal by presidential tweet on Friday, less than a week after the Texas congressman was put forward to become the new Director of National Intelligence. From the jump, Ratcliffe was dogged by accusations that he'd padded his resume with boasts of terrorist prosecutions that never happened.

President Trump announced Friday afternoon Congressman John Ratcliffe's nomination to be the next Director of National Intelligence has been withdrawn.
Ratcliffe was nominated earlier this week when it was announced former DNI Director Dan Coates would be stepping down.
After Ratcliffe was nominated, the media jumped to falsely condemn him as soft on Russia due to this exchange with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The Justice Department declined to charge former FBI Director James Comey following a referral from the department’s inspector general’s office about leaked memos describing his interactions with President Donald Trump, NBC News reported Thursday, citing law enforcement sources.

Comey said he had penned the memos directly after his meetings with Trump during the early days of his presidency. The memos allege that Trump asked Comey to shut down an investigation into the president’s former national security advisor, Michael Flynn.

Comey had shared those memos

Rep. John Ratcliffe is President Trump's choice to become the next top leader of the U.S. intelligence community.

The Texas Republican thanked Trump on Twitter following the president's earlier announcement, also on Twitter, that Ratcliffe was his nominee to replace outgoing Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

Coats and Trump haven't been sympatico from the beginning and the White House has been telling journalists for weeks that the president wanted somebody else.

Sen. Chris Murphy on Monday dismissed Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next director of national intelligence, as a “television character” who is an “inappropriate choice” for the historically nonpartisan post.

“I don't know this guy,” Murphy (D-Conn.) said on MSNBC. “I think he's a television character that the president has watched on TV, and he wants to put somebody in this position who's going to agree with his political take on intelligence.”

Senate Republicans plan to move quickly to consider the nomination of Rep. John Ratcliffe to succeed outgoing Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr on Monday said he talked to Ratcliffe Sunday to congratulate on President Trump’s decision to nominate him to the post.

Ratcliffe, a Republican from Texas, sits on the Homeland Security and Judiciary Committee and is relatively unknown to senators.