Image:  Jay Clayton, chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, testifies during the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on “Oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission” on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Stephen Prager of Common Dreams: “A coalition of progressive groups is pressuring Senate Democrats to oppose President Donald Trump’s nomination of Jay Clayton III to lead America’s spy agencies over his role in helping the administration use the legal system to attack journalists.

Over the weekend, The New York Times reported that Clayton, who currently serves as the US attorney for Manhattan, had issued subpoenas to four of its journalists after they’d reported on security concerns related to the luxury jet gifted by the Qatari government, which Trump has begun to use in place of Air Force One against the wishes of the Secret Service.

The US Department of Justice said in a statement that the goal of the investigation was to prosecute leakers who spoke to the press about the plane’s lacking security features. According to the Times, the FBI requested that it hold off publishing the story and reveal the names of its anonymous sources, which it refused to do…”

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