Heinrich on MSNOW: “The Bar Was Low and He Managed to Go Under It”

VIDEO HERE

WASHINGTON - This evening, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) appeared on MSNOW's The Weeknight with Symone Sanders, Michael Steele, and Luke Russert where he reacted to Jay Clayton's nomination hearing to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI) - touching on Clayton's refusal to answer whether he was aware of Tulsi Gabbard's presence while a search warrant was served in Fulton County, Georgia; whether Clayton is qualified for the job of DNI; President Trump's anticipated primetime address tomorrow where he is expected to set the groundwork for denying the results of the 2026 midterm elections; and the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) obstruction of New Mexico's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's crimes at Zorro Ranch.

"The bar was so low and he managed to go under it," said Heinrich, on Clayton's testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Heinrich also warned that President Trump is expected to use tomorrow night's address to revive false claims about the 2020 election while laying the groundwork to challenge the legitimacy of the 2026 midterm elections, instead of answering for rising costs facing American families,"I think it's just worth taking a step back and realizing that the president isn't just doing this to create an atmosphere where he can create a false narrative and try to sway the outcome of the election. He also knows that every minute he's talking about some fake election denial scam, he's not having to answer for the cost of electricity, the cost of groceries, the cost of gasoline, the cost of diesel. All of the things that are going wrong in people's lives right now."

VIDEO: U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, discusses Jay Clayton's failed nomination hearing with MSNOW's Symone Sanders, Michael Steele, and Luke Russert, July 15, 2026.

On Clayton commenting, "It was the first time that, in my recollection, I've thought about it recently," when pressed by U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) on whether he was aware of former DNI Tulsi Gabbard's presence while a search warrant was served in Fulton County, Georgia, tied to the 2020 election:

Heinrich: "I don't know what that means. I don't. Especially if you're going to be the next DNI. I mean, come on. And it was just one thing after another in his, in his hearing...It was just the contrast of coming in and trying to say, 'I'm going to speak truth to power. I'm going to be honest and forthright.' And then your next question, you can't be honest and forthright.

"Now you have Clayton, who sounds an awful lot like Bill Pulte, essentially just saying, 'Yeah, I'm going to go along with whatever the President wants.' The bar was so low. All he had to do was look like somebody who was more qualified and more honest than Pulte, and he couldn't do it."

On whether Clayton is qualified for the job of Director of National Intelligence:

Heinrich: "[This is] the world my colleagues live in today. Sometimes you have to choose between somebody who is completely unqualified and a political hack who will do anything for the President, and somebody who is just unqualified. And that was where a lot of people went into this hearing, thinking, okay, we've got to get this guy in there because Pulte's in there now and he's firing people and, you know, it's a mess. The bar was low and he managed to go under it."

On President Trump's anticipated primetime address tomorrow, where he is expected to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election and set the groundwork for denying the results of the 2026 midterm elections:

Heinrich: "I think it's just worth taking a step back and realizing that the president isn't just doing this to create an atmosphere where he can create a false narrative and try to sway the outcome of the election. He also knows that every minute he's talking about some fake election denial scam, he's not having to answer for the cost of electricity, the cost of groceries, the cost of gasoline, the cost of diesel. All of the things that are going wrong in people's lives right now."

On DOJ obstruction of New Mexico's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's crimes at his Zorro Ranch:

Heinrich: "It is alleged, but highly credibly alleged, that terrible things happened at Zorro Ranch where, just like everywhere else, Jeffrey Epstein set up shop. And we have an Attorney General who's serious about actually having that investigation and trying to seek justice for survivors. So, in the absence of that having occurred at the federal level, and the way that we would all like it to, this is the path to actually being able to hold some people to account - at least in the state of New Mexico."

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