Senate confirms John Ratcliffe as Trump’s CIA director

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to confirm John Ratcliffe as the next CIA director under President Donald Trump, approving the second high-level appointment of the new administration.

The vote was 74-25 in favor of Ratcliffe, a former congressman from Texas who served as Trump’s director of national intelligence for the last eight months of his first term. Twenty-one Democrats joined their Republican colleagues in supporting Ratcliffe’s nomination.

Republican leaders failed to secure unanimous support to expedite Ratcliffe’s nomination for the floor earlier this week and had to jump through some procedural hoops.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he opposed Ratcliffe “not because of our policy difference, which of course exists — but because I am deeply concerned that Mr. Ratcliffe will not be able to stand up against people like Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard, who are known for falsifying intelligence. As CIA Director, Mr. Ratcliffe will have to make decisions based on intelligence and facts.”

Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, is Trump’s nominee to be director of national intelligence.

During his confirmation hearing, Ratcliffe pledged 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 49–44 Senate vote, facing widespread Democratic opposition over concerns about his qualifications and concerns about exaggerating national security credentials on his resume.

Thursday’s vote came three days after the Senate voted unanimously to fast-track and confirm Marco Rubio as secretary of state just hours after Trump was inaugurated.

Other Trump nominees may have an even more difficult time than Ratcliffe receiving quick votes, as any senator can block it. 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, RS.D., has next stopped voting on Trump’s nominees for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Trump’s pick to lead the Treasury Department, Scott Bessent, is expected to speak next.

Thune has threatened to hold the Senate in session this weekend if Democrats don’t relent and allow quick votes, accusing them of “stopping President Trump’s nominees.”

“If Democrats want to spend their nights and weekends voting on uncontroversial nominees, we can do it that way,” he said in a floor speech Thursday. “But one way or another, these nominees will be confirmed.”