Washington: US President Donald Trump said Friday that Congressman John Ratcliffe, his nominee to be the next Director of National Intelligence, was withdrawing from consideration. Trump said he would announce a new nominee "shortly" to replace Dan Coats as head of the 17 agencies that make up the US intelligence community.
"Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media," Trump said in a tweet announcing Ratcliffe's withdrawal. "Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people," Trump said.