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Trump nominates top SDNY prosecutor to key national intelligence post
By
Samantha Max
Published Jun 11, 2026
Modified Jun 11, 2026
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John Lamparski/WireImage
By
Samantha Max
Published Jun 11, 2026
Modified Jun 11, 2026
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President Donald Trump announced Thursday he is nominating U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, top prosecutor in New York's influential Southern District, to be the next director of national intelligence.
“Few people in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump wrote on social media. “I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”
The move comes after Trump selected Bill Pulte, a top federal housing official, as acting director of national intelligence earlier this month, which received sharp criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike. Pulte has no prior experience in intelligence roles.
Before he was tapped to lead the federal prosecutor’s office, Clayton served as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Before that, he held high-level positions at the investment firm Apollo Global Management and the white-shoe law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.
Clayton inherited a U.S. attorney’s office in disarray following a series of departures over the handling of former New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ corruption case. A federal judge dismissed the charges at the urging of Trump’s Department of Justice, prompting the interim leader of the office and several other prosecutors to resign.
On his official bio, Clayton says that under his tenure, the U.S. attorney’s office has prioritized cases involving gun violence, gang activity, drug trafficking, hate crimes, and national security threats, among several other categories.
The office has pursued several high-profile cases under Clayton, including terrorism charges against two teens accused of attempting to ignite explosives outside Gracie Mansion and the federal prosecution of Luigi Mangione.
In Mangione’s case, a federal judge recently tossed the most serious charges, thwarting the office’s ability to pursue the death penalty. In the civil division, the office has also fought a surge of cases filed by immigrants who say they were illegally detained.
The U.S. attorney's office said Clayton will remain in his position "through confirmation."
This story has been updated with comment from the U.S. attorney's office.
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southern district of new york
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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