Delivering a statement via Truth Social returning from the G7 in France. President Trump has suspended the nomination of SDNY U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, cancelling Wednesday afternoon’s SSCI hearing on the nomination.
The late-night timing appears to be due to President Trump focused on the G7 discussions and now turns his focus back to the domestic agenda; DNI, Save America Act and FISA (702) reauthorization.
President Trump outlines in the Truth Social post that FISA (702) renewal must be attached to the Save America Act, and Jay Clayton’s replacement, Jamie McDonald, must be confirmed to replace Clayton in the SDNY prior to the DNI nomination moving forward. This position puts Bill Pulte’s appointment as Acting DNI back into the mix.
BillPulte, Donald Trump and Jay Clayton (Credit: Conservative Treehouse)
VIA TRUTH SOCIAL – “The Republicans agreed with Dumocrats to remove very fair, and talented, William Pulte, from serving as Acting DNI in return for getting FISA approved by the Dumocrats. However, the Republicans moved so fast with the hearings of the Great Jay Clayton, current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, that Pulte would be gone before the Dumocrats would vote on FISA.
Now, the Dumocrats are saying they will vote against FISA — So, the Republicans wound up having fulfilled their commitment, but Dumocrats broke the Deal.
In addition, the newly nominated U.S. Attorney, Jamie McDonald, must be confirmed and blue slipped. Because of the ridiculous views of Republicans on blue slipping (Dumocrats are often willing to nix it), I may not be able to get the extraordinary Sullivan & Cromwell Partner, Jamie, approved, and I don’t want to take Jay Clayton away from the great job he is doing until Jamie is in place.
Therefore, to add a slight bit of intrigue but, for the Good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it. Not complicated, actually, the Republicans fell into a trap.
Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney. In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
~ President DONALD J. TRUMP
None of these back-and-forth moves would be necessary if Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune were aligned with the Republican President. Alas, with Thune representing a dysfunctional wing of a Senate UniParty, his priorities are in alignment against the President.
This was where things stood with Thune before the Truth Social post (prompted).
In a note of irony, I think we can all thank John Cornyn for this outcome and response by President Trump. John Cornyn told AG nominee Todd Blanche he was withholding support until the DOJ gave him Trump family tax information.
However, John Cornyn was very happy with Jay Clayton and FISA renewal.
(Conservative Treehouse, 6/17/2026) (Archive)
The second, seemingly unrelated story that unfolded right as FISA expired, was barely reported anywhere. On Friday, without any fanfare, the White House issued a dense, technical directive —it’s like an Executive Order– that was blandly titled, “National Security Presidential Memorandum NSPM-12.”
NPSM-12, known only by its acronym, could potentially be one of the most significant intelligence reorganizations in modern history. We don’t know much, since there was no press conference or signing ceremony for this one. They just slipped it in. The corporate media looked the other way. Trade media was less sanguine:
Remember how DOGE worked on a technical level? DOGE agents invaded every major federal agency and office. They linked all the important databases. They synchronized all the critical records. They mapped the payments, contracts, recipients, approvers, and contractors. They forced the big agencies to standardize on a single email platform. Throughout 2025, they fought and won lawsuits to link Social Security, Treasury, Medicaid, and ICE, so checks won’t go out to dead people, and illegals can’t get welfare or tax refunds.
In other words, DOGE tied federal agency databases together, providing the White House with a level of real-time visibility that had never existed before. In particular, DOGE made it possible to follow the money. Over about twelve months, years of deeply buried activity became a searchable evidence trail. Now, DOGE systems empower Trump’s Fraud Task Force. That’s why Democrats fought DOGE so hard.
🔥 NSPM-12 just launched the same transparency process, but this time for the intelligence agencies. The memo “is different than what we usually see,” NextGov advised. Instead of “wiggle room, vague timelines, and the ‘consistent with applicable law’ language that gives everyone room to slow walk implementation, there are named officials. Hard deadlines. A governance body with actual authority to issue binding directives.”
In other words, a control architecture.
Writ large, NPSM-12 places all national security systems under the authority of a single agency, the NSA, for cybersecurity purposes. This makes superficial sense in an age when AI chatbots are racing toward a quantum singularity that could crack any existing encryption.
But some of the NSPM’s related powers could also challenge the standard operating procedures of all clandestine work. One wonky analysis of the order said, “Agencies will be required to maintain annual inventories of all National Security Systems under their control.” And, the NSA “will be able to issue emergency directives requiring agencies to take immediate action, to protect sensitive networks.”
The first example that sprang to mind was the FBI’s alleged “Prohibited Access” files— the Bureau’s second set of books-off-the-books that Kash Patel’s team uncovered. NSPM-12 would have disclosed its existence. The parts of that dark-file system that were electronically stored, searched, transmitted, encrypted, cross-loaded, or hidden within FBI infrastructure— they now fall under the NSA’s brand-new role as National Manager.
That means the FBI’s so-secret-the-secret-is-secret prohibited access system must be inventoried, logged, audited, secured, and surfaced. Assuming the other agencies are pursuing the same “prohibited access” angle (why wouldn’t they?), it will be devastating for generations of deep state skunkworks. (Read more: Coffee and Covid, 6/16/2026) (Archive)