Confirmation hearing for DNI nominee Rep. John Ratcliffe has begun. First such hearing held during the Covid-19 pandemic. A bearded committee chairman Richard Burr explains social distancing rules. Members will rotate in and out to keep space between them. intelligence.senate.gov
Burr explains his beard, which he doesn't normally wear, is a tribute to the late Sen. Tom Coburn, who he says went without shaving in times of crisis.
Members and staff, what few there are at the dais, are wearing masks. Ratcliffe is not, but he is sitting farther from the dais than witnesses normally do.
Burr thanked Ratcliffe for his "patience" in the process. Trump tapped him, but Ratcliffe withdrew over questions of resume padding.
Warner: "I don’t see what has changed since last summer… when the President decided not to proceed with your nomination over concerns about your inexperience, partisanship, and past statements that seemed to embellish your record."
You can follow along w/ our coverage here, too. washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
"I know of no person with a higher commitment to integrity," former AG John Ashcroft says in written introductory remarks, read by Sen. John Cornyn. Republicans anticipate Dems to portray Ratcliffe as a partisan who is too close to Trump to lead an apolitical intel community.
Sign of the times. Next to customary bottles of water for the witness, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes. 
Ratcliffe begins opening statement with tribute to victims of Covid-19 and thanks to intelligence employees who are still working in the midst of the pandemic.
Ratcliffe pledges to keep politics out of intelligence: "Regardless of what anyone wants our intelligence to reflect, the intelligence I will provide if confirmed will not be altered or impacted by outside influence."
Ratcliffe says he concurs with IC finding that Russia interfered in 2016 elections, but he hasn't seen the "underlying intelligence" that led House Intel Committee not to conclude Russia preferred Trump in the election.
Feinstein asked if Ratcliffe would respond to congressional requests for "all" info IC has related to Covid-19, and emphasizes she means to be "broad" in her description. Ratcliffe says he will focus IC on finding out how the pandemic happened and when. But...
that description would clearly cover what the IC was telling the president and senior admin officials BEFORE the pandemic arrived here. Obviously, Feinstein was driving at that. Ratcliffe focused his answer more on where the WH has been going--pinning the pandemic on China.
Sen. Tom Cotton, who has pushed for more answers on the origins of the novel coronavirus, says it would be appropriate for Trump to task intelligence agencies to determine if the virus came from a lab in Wuhan. BG on that here. washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
There's no evidence of a lab release/escape. The scientific consensus is that the virus was not man-made or genetically altered--ODNI is on record concurring with that assessment. Some US officials have said that Trump admin is pushing for intel on the lab theory to fit a case.
Now Sen. King explaining to Ratcliffe his concern is not that the admin is trying to learn where the virus came from, but that Trump is pressing the IC is "pressing the intelligence community to find what he wants them to find...to tell him what he wants to hear."
Ratcliffe does not engage on that question, and says that in general he will not be persuaded by politics and preference as DNI. King replies that if he tells the president anything but the "unvarnished" truth, "that is an act of disloyalty," to the president and Constitution.
Ratcliffe muddy on North Korea, perhaps trying not to get crossways with Trump: "I view North Korea as the same danger that they have been," but, "I can’t address whether we’ve made progress" reducing their nuclear weapons program. Trump said his interventions eliminated threat.
Hearing has concluded. Burr said he wants to move on a full vote "rapidly." Hearing will now move to a classified session.
