Trump Is Already Looking to Dump His Top Loyalist
President Donald Trump is already looking to replace his ultra-loyalist spy chief.
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Two Republicans tell Politico that less than a week after Bill Pulte was named acting director of national intelligence, the president has already met with others about taking on the position full-time.
Pulte, 38, has no experience in intelligence and is viewed on Capitol Hill as a roadblock to reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a major government surveillance program that is set to expire on Friday without receiving bipartisan backing.
Democrats are especially wary of Pulte, not only for his lack of experience—he is the grandson of William J. Pulte, the billionaire founder of homebuilding giant PulteGroup—but also for his over-the-top Trump sycophancy and targeting of MAGA adversaries while running the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to speak to Trump about Pulte, who was appointed to the acting role on June 2, during a White House meeting on Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, said Monday that the administration needs to find a permanent replacement for Pulte “that will be viewed by at least enough Democrats as sufficient to get their support” for reauthorizing the surveillance law.
Trump, 79, has seemingly distanced himself from Pulte since his shock announcement on Truth Social last week that he would be Tulsi Gabbard’s replacement.
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Asked in the Oval Office about the backlash over his choice of Pulte, Trump reiterated that the housing scion is only there “in an acting position.”
Trump sometimes keeps officials in acting roles to bypass tough confirmation fights in the Senate. He has just started the process to make Todd Blanche the permanent attorney general, but may be bucking this trend with Pulte.
Reached for comment, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said: “The President chooses the best and most talented people to serve in his Cabinet. That is why this Administration has achieved record successes for the American people. Bill Pulte is a great selection, and he will do a great job on behalf of the American people.”
Watchdogs are concerned about how Pulte may use his newfound power as DNI.
“Having someone in this extraordinarily powerful role, where they will have basically unfettered access to sensitive intelligence and be able to shape the way in which intelligence is collected and declassified, is dangerous to the Constitution,” Don Bell, policy counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, told the Daily Beast.
The surveillance deadline has already been extended by Congress twice since April, according to Politico. However, a source tells NOTUS that Johnson told members on Tuesday that an extension will not be imposed again and that Thursday’s flyout day will instead be delayed.
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“If we don’t do FISA, we don’t go home,” he reportedly said.
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