‘Totally Unqualified’: Lawmakers Stunned by Trump’s Installation of Bill Pulte as Acting Intelligence Chief

President Trump’s Republican allies are joining the chorus of alarms sounded Tuesday over President Trump’s announcement that he will install the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, as the acting director of national intelligence. Mr. Pulte, an avowed partisan in the president’s camp, is filling the shoes of Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned from the post after her husband was diagnosed with cancer. Mr. Pulte was the primary proponent of targeting members of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors and members of Congress for alleged mortgage fraud. In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Mr. Trump announced Mr. Pulte would lead both the FHFA and the office of Director of National Intelligence. “William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets, and over 10 Trillion Dollars at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, a substantial increase from where it was just 12 months ago. During this period, he will remain Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Chairman of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac,” the president wrote. Within minutes, concern raced across Capitol Hill about the interim appointment — and Mr. Pulte’s possible nomination to hold the role permanently. “We don’t need a weaponized DNI. We need professionals there,” said the Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota. “I’m trying to get more information about the current state of their thinking about that position. And, again, if he’s somebody they want in that position permanently, he’s got, as you all know, a lengthy road ahead of him.““I see no evidence of any qualifications for that job,” Senator John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters after the appointment was announced.“Even by Trump Administration standards, Bill Pulte is totally unqualified to be DNI. He has no relevant experience and his sole qualification is unconditional devotion to Donald Trump,” the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Jim Himes, wrote on X. “Since there will be no senate confirmation (of course), it is critical that Pulte go through a full security clearance process before he walks into the building.”“Mr. Pulte has absolutely no intelligence background. He has no national security background,” warned the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner. “What he does have is a record of manipulating public information.”The chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Tom Cotton, declined to comment at a press conference on Mr. Pulte’s appointment, saying he has “no observations” about the acting DNI. Vice President Vance celebrated the appointment, noting that he wants Mr. Pulte to be directly responsive to Mr. Trump. “Bill is a great guy who recognizes that the bureaucracy of the intel community must respond to the elected leadership,” Mr. Vance wrote on X. Mr. Pulte’s record at the housing finance agency suggests he has had little impact on federal housing policy outcomes. Instead, his actions as the agency chief strongly reflect his boss’s political predilections. Mr. Pulte’s allegations that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook had committed mortgage fraud was the basis for Mr. Trump’s attempt to remove her, which is now being litigated at the Supreme Court. Mr. Pulte also issued criminal referrals to federal prosecutors for allegations of mortgage fraud against New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, as well as Senator Adam Schiff, who helped lead the impeachment effort against the president in 2019. As acting DNI, his job will be to coordinate intelligence gathering efforts and help inform the president about critical national security matters. If past is prologue, however, then Mr. Pulte could very easily use the post — even in an acting capacity — to help vilify Mr. Trump’s foes. Ms. Gabbard had also helped in that effort, traveling to Fulton County, Georgia to oversee an FBI operation to seize original ballots, tabulator tapes, electronic ballot images, and voter rolls from the 2020 election. In recent weeks, the FBI has begun a separate inquiry in Wisconsin related to the 2020 presidential election.

‘Totally Unqualified’: Lawmakers Stunned by Trump’s Installation of Bill Pulte as Acting Intelligence Chief

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