At Intel Hearing, Gillibrand Pushes Clayton On Election Security And His Subpoenas Of New York Times Journalists

At Intel Hearing, Gillibrand Pushes Clayton On Election Security And His Subpoenas Of New York Times Journalists

Jul 15, 2026

Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, pressed director of national intelligence nominee Jay Clayton on the subpoenas he issued to multiple New York Times journalists who reported on security concerns involving President Trump's Qatari-donated Air Force One.

In addition, Gillibrand pressed Clayton about election security and his refusal to state plainly that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

Footage of Senator Gillibrand's questioning can be found here.

Transcripts of key moments can be found below:

ON INTRUSIVE SUBPOENAS ATTACKING NEW YORK TIMES REPORTERS:

Sen. Gillibrand: I want to just continue the line of questioning that Senator Bennet had about the New York Times subpoenas. You said you don't want to get into it. I understand that, but the reason why we're asking these questions is because the subpoenas were issued so closely after a very long meeting at the White House. There seemed to be an unnecessary urgency behind it, and I'd like you to maybe comment on why there was this urgency. But more than that, they were served at the reporters' homes, and that is fairly unusual. That is not the least-what term of art did you use?-the least…

Hon. Jay Clayton: Least intrusive.

Sen. Gillibrand: Intrusive means-serving at their homes. Normally, a subpoena would be issued at their place of business, a corporate office, but again, delivering it to a private home seems quite aggressive. So, can you address the urgency and the home service?

Hon. Jay Clayton: What I said before is, I'm not going to get into the specifics and the circumstances of the matters being investigated-

Sen. Gillibrand: Understood. So, I just want to talk about the process because I get you don't want to talk about the substance.

Hon. Jay Clayton: Yeah, and then on the process, how quickly you would do something following the process depends on those facts and circumstances of the investigation, including the potential spoliation, you know, of information and the timeliness of the threat. I think I'm going to leave it at that, but I…these are, this is not a… this was a judgment, and it should always be a judgment that's made collectively. That's the way I look at these things.

Sen. Gillibrand: Well, I would just, I would just urge that this doesn't sound like the proper independent legal process that we would normally expect for issuance of a subpoena. The characteristics surrounding it seem rushed, aggressive, with an unnecessary urgency. And I would just caution you: in your role, you are going to have many times when you may be influenced to engage in investigation because the White House is unhappy with a report. The thing about this particular issue is that the plane was reported on months ago, months and months ago, about the concerns that because it was built by Qatar, that it wouldn't have the same security aspects that one would need to protect a president, and so this just doesn't ring true that your process was a thoughtful, deliberative, and normal oversight process, and that is why this committee is deeply concerned. Do you understand that?

Hon. Jay Clayton: I understand your concerns.

ON ELECTION SECURITY:

Sen. Gillibrand: The second thing that this committee is concerned about [is] this issue of election security. Senator King tried to get you to say: did he win or not win the election? President Trump has an issue with whether he wins or doesn't win elections, and it's affected your office, and I need you to understand how it's affected your office. After the 2016 election, there [were] allegations that there was foreign interference by Russia, and President Trump was very concerned that somehow his election was not on the up and up. And so, what he did in response when he became president, was he eliminated every aspect of your office's oversight of the election process from cyberthreats. You had personnel that were very knowledgeable about cyberthreats, especially foreign influence-there were personnel at CISA, there were personnel at the FBI-and they were all fired. And then President Trump now wants to make sure that the 2020 election, that nobody says Biden won the election. So you can understand why this committee is concerned that you won't say "Biden won the election," because it just reeks of this insecurity by the Trump administration about election security. So when you say election security is important to you, I want to make sure that you understand the ODNI has a responsibility towards cybersecurity, towards election security, that's not about voter fraud, but about the influence of foreign countries on our election security. Do you understand that?

Hon. Jay Clayton: Absolutely, and it is a significant concern of mine. One of the things that I did not get an opportunity to talk about before, cybersecurity has been part of my private sector and public sector practice for well over a decade, going on close to two decades.

Sen. Gillibrand: So, will you add that back to ODNI because it was taken out by Gabbard?

Hon. Jay Clayton: When I was talking-yes-when I was talking about processes and integrity of our election, cybersecurity is front of mind.

Sen. Gillibrand: So, will you restore the cybersecurity complement to your job, as well as the biosecurity threats, and as well as the Foreign Malign Influence Center?

Hon. Jay Clayton: I can commit to making an assessment, and to the extent that more resources are needed, or more focus is needed, or more coordination is needed…

Sen. Gillibrand: Well, we would urge there are more resources and focus needed in those three areas.

Hon. Jay Clayton: And I look forward to dialoguing with you on that.

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