Trump's DNI nominee Jay Clayton repeatedly refused to affirm Biden won the 2020 election at Senate hearing

On July 15, 2026, Jay Clayton, President Trump's nominee for Director of National Intelligence, testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and repeatedly declined to say that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. Questioned directly and repeatedly by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who asked "Who won the 2020 election?", Clayton responded "You know, I'm not gonna do this with you" and later said he was "not gonna engage in the theater." Clayton told senators he is "not an election denier" and acknowledged that Biden "was certified as the president of the United States," but stopped short of directly affirming Biden's victory even after Ossoff accused him of refusing to be "honest and forthright" with the committee and the public.

The hearing also touched on Clayton's tenure as acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he has separately subpoenaed New York Times journalists, and his claim that he learned only that week, from Ossoff in a private meeting, that then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had participated in a January 2026 search of a Fulton County, Georgia election office. Clayton, the former SEC chair, remained likely to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.