ATLANTA — U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell is the nation's new acting top intelligence official, but he's expected to have only a short-term tenure.
President Donald Trump says he'll name a permanent director of national intelligence soon and told reporters on Air Force One Thursday evening that he's considering Gainesville-based U.S. Rep. Doug Collins (R).
But Collins told Fox Business on Friday that he's not interested.
"This is not a job that interests me. At this time it's not one that I would accept because I'm running a Senate race down here in Georgia," Collins told Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo. "I'm sure the president will pick somebody appropriate for that job."
He went on to praise the president and said he would continue to fight for him.
Collins is running for Kelly Loeffler's seat in the Nov. 3 election. Trump has been highly supportive of Loeffler since Gov. Brian Kemp appointed her to the position.
But it appears that Collins is not going to give up his fight to oust Loeffler, despite the president's attempt.
Also running for the seat vacated by Sen. Johnny Isakson when he retired is Ebenezer Baptist Church pastor Raphael Warnock (D), Matt Lieberman (D), the son of former Connecticut Senator and vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman and former state Senator and federal prosecutor Ed Tarver.
The appointment of Grenell, an outspoken Trump loyalist with not a lot of experience for the intelligence position, did little to heal Trump's fraught relations with an intelligence community he has derided as part of a “deep state” of entrenched bureaucrats that seek to undermine him.
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