Ossoff presses Clayton on who won 2020 election

Senate Ossoff presses Clayton on who won 2020 election Comments: by Helen Huiskes - 07/15/26 3:55 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Helen Huiskes - 07/15/26 3:55 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), the most vulnerable Senate Democrat up for reelection this year, took Jay Clayton, President Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, to task over the administration’s focus on debunked claims that the 2020 elections were fraudulent.

In a tense confirmation hearing for Clayton on Wednesday, Ossoff and other Democratic senators pressed him about the 2020 election and the president’s insistence that he, not Joe Biden, was the winner.

“I’m not an election denier,” Clayton said in response to an earlier question from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the panel, adding that Biden “was certified” as president.

“He went through our electoral process,” Clayton said. Several other senators asked versions of the same question, and Clayton refused to say whether or not he believed Biden had “won.”

When his time came to ask questions, Ossoff doubled down.

“Who won the 2020 election?” Ossoff asked.

“I’m not going to do this with you,” said Clayton.

It went on for a few rounds. Ossoff pressed Clayton to answer the question, urging him to “be honest and forthright” with the committee. Clayton said he was “not going to engage in the theater.”

“You refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election, but you ask to lead America’s intelligence community,” Ossoff said. “Isn’t it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge the president’s delusions?”

Ossoff also pressed Clayton on his knowledge of outgoing Director Tulsi Gabbard’s presence at FBI raids of election offices in Fulton County, Georgia earlier this year. Ossoff added that the intelligence committee is “probing” Gabbard’s involvement in the raids. Clayton has been the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York since last year, and previously served as the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Are you aware that former Director Gabbard testified that her presence at the raid was, quote, requested by the president?” Ossoff asked.

“I’m not aware of that until now,” Clayton replied.

Ossoff also leaned into Clayton on whether he would follow a direction from Trump to get involved in domestic election investigations, as Gabbard did.

“If the White House chief of staff or the president asks you to travel somewhere across the United States and oversee the execution of a domestic search warrant on a sensitive election facility, will you do it? Is that appropriate for the director of national intelligence?” Ossoff asked.

“That’s a hypothetical,” Clayton replied.

“We all know it’s not,” said Ossoff.

Add as preferred source on Google Tags Jay Clayton Joe Biden Jon Ossoff Mark Warner Tulsi Gabbard

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