President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he plans to nominate former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton as Director of National Intelligence, as reported by Business Standard. The nomination comes amid intense political pressure from Congress to name a permanent replacement for outgoing Director Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month. Trump described Clayton as "few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay" and urged the United States Senate to confirm him as soon as possible. The director of national intelligence oversees the broader U.S. intelligence community, including the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.
Clayton authorized the SEC's landmark lawsuit against Ripple Labs in December 2020, alleging the company raised $1.3 billion through unregistered XRP sales. The agency also claimed executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen made roughly $600 million in personal sales. Judge Analisa Torres later ruled that only Ripple's institutional sales violated securities law, fining the firm $125 million in August 2024, significantly below the nearly $2 billion the SEC sought. Both sides dropped their remaining appeals in 2025.
The nomination comes amid heightened political tensions over intelligence leadership, with Trump facing intense pushback over his decision to name Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director, according to Business Standard. The situation has led to a standoff in Congress as Democrats said they would refuse to renew a foreign intelligence powers unless Trump pulled Pulte's nomination and named a permanent nominee. The dispute around Trump's decision to install Pulte as acting director helped derail a short-term extension as the authority neared its expiration, with lawmakers' objections centered on Pulte's lack of national security experience and renewed concerns about privacy protections for Americans caught up in surveillance collection.
XRP traders showed little reaction to Thursday's nomination news, with the token gaining nearly 4% to trade near $1.13, according to reports from Truth Social. The cryptocurrency maintained its position as the sixth-largest digital asset with a $71 billion market capitalization. The muted response suggests XRP holders view the nomination as a procedural development rather than a direct threat to the token's regulatory status.
