Senate considers intelligence director nomination amid COVID-19 pandemic

John Ratcliffe already was nominated once, and then withdrew, after reports suggested he had overstated some of his bona fides on counterterrorism.

• By Philip Ewing/NPR

(Washington) — The Senate intelligence committee has convened an extraordinary hearing on Tuesday morning at which members are set to consider the nomination of Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, to become the director of national intelligence.

The session not only is expected to intersect with a number of white-hot political storylines in Washington but also make history simply for taking place amid continued social distancing and other mitigation measures aimed at containing the coronavirus.

The chairman

Tuesday’s hearing is the first since news accounts imperiled the standing of the panel’s chairman, North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr.

Burr may not have spoken publicly about what he’d learned privately about the coronavirus earlier this year — and may have sold assets early to prevent financial losses he might have suffered when the stock market crashed this spring, according to the reports earlier this year.

Burr is believed to be under investigation by the Justice Department and Senate ethics authorities about what he said and did earlier this year and whether he may have transgressed any laws or rules within the chamber.

Burr has denied any wrongdoing and invited an inquiry by the Senate Ethics Committee. The reports, however, have created sometimes awkward tensions within the GOP and even a few of Burr’s fellow Republicans have called on him to give “everybody an explanation” about his activities this year.

Politics-watchers have questioned whether Burr’s activities, if substantiated, might at least cost him the chairmanship of the intelligence committee.