The Three Words Jay Clayton Couldn't Say: Inside a Brutal DNI Confirmation Hearing

Trump's Director of National Intelligence nominee struggled to answer who won the 2020 election, as well as basic questions about press freedom and presidential pardons.

Kristoffer Ealy is a political scientist, political analyst, and professor in Southern California. He teaches American Government and political behavior, with a focus on political psychology, voting behavior, and political socialization. Subscribe to his Substack, The Thinking Class with Professor Ealy.

The hearing for Jay Clayton started off normally enough. When asked who won the 2020 election, he said, “I’m not an election denier.” And as a regular member of the human race, you almost feel yourself exhale. Okay. Good. He got the easy one right.

Even as a Democrat, you find yourself almost rooting for him—the way you root for a toddler making the transition from a bottle to a sippy cup. Not because drinking from a cup is an extraordinary achievement, but because everybody has agreed to celebrate the developmental milestone happening directly in front of them. Look at Jay. Such a big boy. He knows the election wasn’t stolen.

Not rooting rooting, of course. You already know there is an excellent chance he will reveal himself as some variety of MAGA nut before the hour is over. But maybe a slightly less advanced case. Baby steps.

But then, when probed further—scratch that, he wasn’t even probed further. He was simply allowed to keep talking—that was when he reached for the magic word: certified.

There it was. Certified. The verbal escape hatch for every Republican who knows exactly who won the 2020 election but would prefer not to say it where Donald Trump might hear. Joe Biden did not win. The American people did not elect him. He was certified. A process happened. Forms were processed. Stamps were stamped. Somewhere in Washington, a civil servant slid a document into a manila folder, and suddenly nobody could remember how it got there.

And as a journalist watching this unfold, all you can think is: goddamn, this is going to be a long fucking hearing.