Sen. Warner says he won't vote to confirm Jay Clayton as DNI
But with Republicans controlling the Senate, he expects Clayton to be confirmed.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that he will not vote for Jay Clayton, currently the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to be confirmed as director of national intelligence, a key intelligence oversight role.
"I've known Jay for a long time. I like him, but after his performance before my committee, his inability to answer the question about who won the 2020 election ... I am not going to vote for him," Warner told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
Warner's statement comes after Clayton was grilled by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee last week, some repeatedly asking him who won the 2020 presidential election. Clayton refused to say that former President Joe Biden was the winner, saying only that he was "certified" as the winner.
Still, Warner said he expected Clayton to be confirmed.
"I think Jay Clayton will get confirmed," Warner said. "And God willing, I hope the guy that becomes DNI is the guy that I've known and liked and worked with."
Clayton can be confirmed without the support of Democrats as Republicans control the Senate.
Warner on Trump's elections speech
President Donald Trump last week delivered a primetime address to the nation in which he accused some foreign countries, specifically China, of attempting to interfere in American elections starting in 2020, an accusation which China denied.
In the speech, Trump announced the declassification of several documents he claimed showed that China had pulled off "the largest compromise of election data in history" by acquiring information on American voters. Voter file data is broadly available, either for free or for purchase, from any state in the U.S.
Senators on the Intelligence Committee from both parties, including Warner, have said that the newly released documents reflected mostly previously known information about attempts to interfere in the 2020 election and showed no proof that the election was stolen, as Trump has frequently said.
Warner said Sunday that while China is a concern, he sees Russia and Iran as bigger threats.
"Russia was very good at influencing our elections. They have been far and away the most prominent player, usually on behalf of Trump. Iran has been very active as well, usually against Trump," Warner said. "China's got the capabilities, but they've been ... less about which candidate and more like, can we just make Americans lose confidence?"
A Russian spokesman said Friday that it has never interfered in U.S. elections.
As Trump continues to falsely claim that the 2020 election was stolen and that U.S. elections are not secure, the president again pushed for the passage of the SAVE America Act, a sweeping voting bill that would require photo ID to vote and proof of citizenship, such as a passport or a birth certificate, to register to vote.
Democrats are united against the bill, which does not currently have enough support in the Senate to become law. But asked Sunday if he would support a narrower requirement to require photo ID in U.S. elections, Warner said he would support a uniform ID requirement, but that the SAVE America Act goes too far.
"If you're going to have a set of IDs, let's have it across the board as long as it comes from some official point," Warner said. "But this is not about voter ID. The SAVE Act is about voter disenfranchisement."
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