Former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe has been confirmed to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency, making him the second of President Trump’s cabinet nominees to secure their position.
The Senate confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state on Monday, voting unanimously in favor of the former Florida senator on Inauguration Day.
Ratcliffe was confirmed Thursday by a vote of 74-25, Fox News reported.
He was sworn in as CIA Director by Vice President JD Vance during a swearing in ceremony at the Vice President’s ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
The Texas Republican previously served as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) from May 2020 until January 2021, during Trump’s first term in office.
Ratcliffe faced more opposition from Democrats after being nominated for that position, but was eventually approved along party lines.
During Ratcliffe’s first confirmation hearing last week, when lawmakers probed him over how he would handle the role as CIA director if confirmed, Ratcliffe said he would eliminate politicization and “wokeness” in the agency’s workforce. Ratcliffe added that he plans on focusing on the agency’s approach to technology, saying that he thinks it has struggled to keep pace with the tech evolution occurring in the private sector.
Ratcliffe will also take a hawkish stance towards China, according to people close to Ratcliffe, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.
On Thursday, the Senate also voted to advance Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee to serve as secretary of Defense, along a largely party line 51-49 vote. Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) voted against Hegseth, apparently agreeing with Democrats that the decorated infantry officer and Princeton/Harvard graduate is unqualified for the job.
Both senators, it should be noted, voted to confirm the cross-dressing Rachel Levine, who served as the Biden regime’s assistant secretary for health from 2021 until 2025.
There will be a final confirmation vote on Hegseth’s nomination Friday, and he is expected to secure the votes he needs to be confirmed as Trump’s Defense Secretary.
The Republican-controlled Senate has vowed to work overtime to get the rest of Trump’s nominees approved quickly, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (S.D.) insisting on X Tuesday evening that they will work “nights, weekends, recesses” until the process is complete.
The GOP-led Senate also aimed to hold a confirmation vote on South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem for homeland security chief this week. Both Noem and Russ Vought, Trump’s budget pick, have been voted out of their relevant committees and are expected to eventually be confirmed, News Nation reported.
Two nominees still in limbo are Robert F. Kennedy Jr., picked to lead the Health and Human Services Department, and Tulsi Gabbard, tapped for director of national intelligence. Neither has a hearing scheduled, and both face unknown paths to confirmation.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent the following message to Democrats on X: “Don’t make plans this weekend. We’re going to get President Trump’s nominees confirmed the easy collegial way, or apparently the hard way.”
Commenting on Cotton’s post, Thune added: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Start the discussion at community.amgreatness.com