Melina Mara/AP toggle caption Melina Mara/AP Avril Haines, President-elect Joe Biden's pick for director of national intelligence, speaks during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. Melina Mara/AP Updated at 1:03 p.m. ET Avril Haines, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for director of national intelligence, opened her confirmation hearing Tuesday morning with an implicit criticism of President Trump's management of the country's vast intelligence network. "When it comes to intelligence," Haines said in her opening statement, "there is simply no place for politics, ever." Haines, if confirmed, will assume control of an intelligence community that Trump viewed with suspicion from his first days in office, frequently dismissing its work or even accusing it of being part of a "deep state" cabal intent on destroying his presidency. Trump's departing director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, is a fierce ally of the president who as a Republican congressman from Texas had served on the contentious House Intelligence Committee but otherwise had scant relevant experience.