Senate confirms Clayton as new director of intelligence

WASHINGTON — The Senate approved President Donald Trump’s choice to oversee the country’s spy agencies, with the Republican majority voting Tuesday to install top Manhattan federal prosecutor Jay Clayton as the next director of national intelligence.

Clayton will be inheriting a much smaller agency after the office’s workforce was cut in a series of firings in recent weeks and months by his predecessors. And his confirmation follows accusations from Democratic lawmakers and former national security officials that the Trump White House has attempted to use the intelligence agencies to wage partisan political warfare.

The vote was 51-47 along party lines.

After Clayton