Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, is expected to be nominated to Director of National Intelligence by President Donald Trump following Dan Coats' departure, sources told Axios on Sunday.

The report comes just days after Ratcliffe defended Trump during an impassioned rebuke of special counsel's Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election.

"The special counsel's job, nowhere does it say that you were to conclusively determine Donald Trump's innocence or that the special counsel report should determine whether or not to exonerate him," Rep. Ratcliffe, a former prosecutor, told Mueller during the House Intelligence Committee hearing Wednesday.

"I agree with Chairman [Jerry] Nadler [D-N.Y.] this morning when he said Donald Trump is not above the law. But he damn sure should not be below the law, which is where Volume II of this report puts him."

Even before the hearing, Ratcliffe had been considered a potential attorney general replacement for ex-AG Jeff Sessions, according to Axios.

The DNI oversees U.S. intelligence, advising the president and the National Security Council, and delivering the famed daily intelligence briefing President Trump had previously panned as being repetitive and not a great use of presidential time.

President Trump had talked about ridding the White House of the "bureaucracy" of the DNI position, but he had been advised against it and instead will seek to "downsize it, according to an Axios source.