Jay Clayton

Jay Clayton
Official portrait, 2026
9th Director of National Intelligence
Assumed office
August 3, 2026
PresidentDonald Trump
DeputyAaron Lukas
Preceded byTulsi Gabbard
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York
In office
April 22, 2025 – July 29, 2026
Acting: April 22, 2025 – August 19, 2025
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byMatthew Podolsky (acting)
Succeeded byJames M. McDonald
Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission
In office
May 4, 2017 – December 23, 2020
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byMichael Piwowar (acting)
Succeeded byElad L. Roisman (acting)
Personal details
Born
Walter Joseph Clayton III

(1966-07-11) July 11, 1966 (age 60)
Newport News, Virginia, U.S.
Political partyIndependent
Spouse(s)Gretchen Butler
Education

Walter Joseph "Jay" Clayton III (born July 11, 1966) is an American attorney and politician who has been the 9th and current Director of National Intelligence since 2026.

Clayton was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2025 until 2026. He was the 32nd Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from May 4, 2017 until December 23, 2020 during the first presidency of Donald Trump.

In June 2026, President Trump nominated Clayton to be the next Director of National Intelligence. His nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2026.

Early life

Walter Joseph Clayton III was born on July 11, 1966, at the McDonald Army Health Center at Fort Eustis in Newport News, Virginia. He was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and near Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Clayton went to Lafayette College for a short time, before going to the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in engineering in 1988. Clayton graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in economics and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School with a Juris Doctor in 1993.

From 1993 to 1995, Clayton clerked for Marvin Katz, judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

At Sullivan & Cromwell, Clayton was co-managing partner of the firm's General Practice Group.

Clayton is an independent. He donated to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns. In 2015, Clayton donated to Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign.

First Trump administration

On January 4, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Clayton to be SEC Chairman. They had met a month earlier to talk about regulation. On May 2, 2017, the U.S. Senate voted 61-37 to confirm Clayton as Chairman of the SEC. Votes cast in favor of Clayton's confirmation included nine Democrats and one Independent alongside 51 Republican votes. On May 4, 2017, Clayton was sworn in, marking the official beginning of his role as Chairman.

On June 19, 2020, United States Attorney General Bill Barr announced that President Trump would nominate Clayton to replace Geoffrey Berman as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. However, Clayton was not selected, and instead Audrey Strauss was picked as acting US attorney for Southern District of New York.

Second Trump administration

In April 2025, Clayton was nominated by President Trump to become the interim U.S. Attorney for Manhattan. His nomination was approved in August 2025. In November 2025, Trump ordered the Department of Justice to investigate Democrats who were associates of Jeffrey Epstein. Attorney General Pam Bondi assigned Clayton to lead the investigation.

In February 2026, Clayton created a program to allow companies to avoid criminal charges for financial misconduct, including fraud, by self-reporting to his office.

Director of National Intelligence

On June 11, 2026, President Donald Trump nominated Clayton to be the next director of national intelligence. He appeared before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on June 17. During his confirmation hearing, Clayton refused to say that Joe Biden was elected president in the 2020 election. The committee voted to advance Clayton's nomination in a vote along party lines on July 21. The Senate voted to confirm Clayton in a 51–47 vote on July 28. Clayton was sworn in on August 3, 2026.

References

  1. ↑ "Local Briefs". The Lykens Register. August 4, 1966. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  2. ↑ Scannell, Kara (February 6, 2017). "Wall St lawyer with skills honed by financial crisis heads to SEC". Financial Times. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  3. 1 2 Rodriguez, Lissette (January 4, 2017). "Everything You Need to Know About Donald Trump's SEC Chair Pick, Jay Clayton". ABC News. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  4. ↑ Wan, James (June 11, 2026). "Trump taps Penn professor Jay Clayton as next director of national intelligence". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Jay Clayton". Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "We Don't Need a Crisis to Act Unitedly Against Cyber Threats". Knowledge@Wharton. Retrieved 2017-05-08.
  7. 1 2 Protess, Ben; Gebeloff, Robert; Ivory, Danielle (November 3, 2018). "Trump Administration Spares Corporate Wrongdoers Billions in Penalties". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 5, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  8. 1 2 Picker, Leslie (January 4, 2017). "Donald Trump Nominates Wall Street Lawyer to Head S.E.C." The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 24, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  9. ↑ Lovelace Jr., Berkeley (4 January 2017). "SECChairNom". CNBC. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  10. ↑ "Senate Confirms Wall St Attorney Jay Clayton to Head SEC". The New York Times. 2017-05-02. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-05-08.[permanent dead link]
  11. ↑ "Clayton Sworn In As SEC Chairman". www.mondaq.com. Retrieved 2017-05-08.
  12. ↑ Press, The Associated (2020-06-19). "US Attorney Who Oversaw Cases of Trump Allies Steps Down". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  13. ↑ Tabuchi, Hiroko (January 14, 2021). "Toyota to Pay a Record Fine for a Decade of Clean Air Act Violations". The New York Times. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Jay Clayton to be interim US attorney for Southern District of New York, Trumps says". Reuters. 2025-04-16. Retrieved 2025-06-03.
  15. ↑ Weiser, Benjamin (August 18, 2025). "Manhattan Judges Approve Trump's Choice for U.S. Attorney". The New York Times. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  16. ↑ Green, Erica; Thrush, Glenn; Feuer, Alan (November 14, 2025). "Justice Department to Investigate Epstein Ties, but Not to Trump". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 12, 2026. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  17. ↑ Dolmetsch, Chris (February 24, 2026). "Wall Street Cop Says Self-Reporters Can Avoid Prosecution". Bloomberg News. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  18. ↑ Barnes, Julian; Bromwich, Jonah; Barrett, Devlin; Weiser, Benjamin (June 11, 2026). "Trump Picks New Intelligence Chief After Revolt Over Pulte". The New York Times. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  19. ↑ Vazquez, Maegan; Strobel, Warren; Stein, Perry (June 11, 2026). "Trump nominates U.S. attorney Jay Clayton as DNI after pushback over Bill Pulte". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 12, 2026. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  20. ↑ Barnes, Julian (July 15, 2026). "Clayton Dodges Question on 2020 Election, and Democrats Call Him on It". The New York Times. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
  21. ↑ Volz, Dustin (July 21, 2026). "Senate Panel Advances Jay Clayton as Next Spy Chief on Party-Line Vote". The New York Times. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
  22. ↑ Volz, Dustin (July 28, 2026). "Senate Confirms Jay Clayton to Lead U.S. Intelligence Community". The New York Times. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  23. ↑ Barnes, Julian (August 3, 2026). "Jay Clayton Sworn In as Director of National Intelligence". The New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2026.

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