DNI “plays a crucial role in overseeing the 18 agencies that make up our country’s Intelligence Community, and the committee expects to hold a hearing next week with Ms. Haines,” they added.
It was not clear whether the session would be rescheduled before or after next Wednesday’s inauguration.
Key context: Haines’ confirmation hearing should be the first for Biden’s office. Instead, Haines joins a host of other national security choices still awaiting his chance to appear on Capitol Hill, including proposed leaders from DHS, the State Department and the Pentagon.
The transition process was marked by delays because President Donald Trump spent months making baseless claims that Biden stole the election. The situation was further complicated by two second rounds of the Senate in Georgia, which ended up changing the balance of power in the upper house.
A new threat to put Biden’s team in place could be Trump’s second impeachment trial, which is unlikely to begin until next week.
Biden asked his former colleagues to proceed with the trial while still confirming his nominees and following his agenda.