President Donald Trump defended Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) to reporters on Tuesday, calling him a brilliant man as his nominee for director of national intelligence faces criticism about his qualifications and political loyalties.

Trumps praise came two days after announcing he had selected Ratcliffe to replace outgoing director Dan Coats on Sunday.

Ratcliffe has been critical of the Russia investigation and the CIAs determination that Russia wanted Trump to win the 2016 election. He was also a particularly loud critic of Robert Mueller during the former special counsels testimony on Capitol Hill last week.