Guessing games continue over ultimate national intelligence director nominee
Trump is eyeing Rep. Doug Collins, but Ga. lawmaker says he doesn't want the job
Drama continues to swirl around the director of national intelligence post left open when Joseph Maguire was abruptly removed last week.
Maguire's departure followed a senior U.S. intelligence officer reportedly briefing House members on purported information about Russia wanting to keep President Trump in office for a second term.
The security briefing purportedly preempted one already scheduled for March 10 and angered Trump so much that he force out Maguire and appointed U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell as the Office of National Intelligence's acting director.
Within hours of the announced change -- and Democrats speculating about Grenell's qualifications for the new job -- Grenell tweeted that he would not be the permanent, Senate-confirmed director, whose office oversees the country's 17 intelligence agencies.
And before the next day, Trump was telling reporters aboard Air Force One that Georgia GOP Rep. Doug Collins was among those he was considering to nominate for the post.
Collins is the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee and a loyal defender of the president -- showcased during the congressional impeachment trials led by the Democrats who control that committee.
Beyond satisfying Trump's desire to fill administration posts with loyalists and reward Collins for his support, appointing him to the director post could also have ended an intra-party dispute about whether to support Collins' bid for an open Senate seat in Georgia.
Gov. Brian Kemp appointed businesswoman Kelly Loeffler to the seat left open when GOP Johnny Isakson retired in late 2019. Kemp and the National Republican Senatorial Committee are supporting Loeffler -- not Collins -- in their respective 2020 bids to win the seat.
Still, Collins apparently has no immediate interest in holding the Cabinet-level post.
“At this time it’s not one that I’d accept,” he told the Fox Business Network.
Among those also mentioned for the post is four-term Utah GOP Rep. Chris Stewart, another strong Trump supporter during the impeachment trials, and Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands and a former chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.