Rep. Will Hurd Wednesday backed fellow Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe's nomination to become Director of National Intelligence, saying the lawmaker has the experience necessary to ensure the intelligence community has the resources it needs to do its job.
"I spent almost a decade as an undercover officer in the CIA and I ran for Congress because I was shocked by the caliber of our elected leaders," the Texas Republican said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "I wish John Ratcliffe would have been in Congress at that time and I wish I would have met him because I would still be in the CIA because I would have been comfortable that there was someone smart making decisions on behalf of the American people and making sure that the work my colleagues and I were doing was respected."
Hurd said that the conversation that should be going on is to be sure that the nation's digital infrastructure will be resilient.
"How do we prepare for what is called a fire sale?" he said. "That's when transportation financial supervisors utilities all get attacked. These are the kinds of things that John Ratcliffe has experience with and what makes him an excellent choice for DNI."
Hurd also commented on the handwritten notes that have surfaced from the FBI that revealed a campaign to force former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to either "lie" or "get fired" over an alleged violation of the Logan Act for communications between himself and a Russian ambassador.;
He said he finds the situation an "outrage," and said he wants to know why Democrats aren't calling on FBI Director Christopher Wray and others to testify about what happened.
"We haven't had any follow-up since the Horowitz report came out, the inspector general there at the Department of Justice," said Hurd, emphasizing that "we need to make sure that we are separating the decisions of a few bad apples from the rank and file."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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