Interim ODNI chief Invoice Pulte has been slammed by Democrats as a Trump loyalist with no intelligence background.
Printed On 10 Jun 2026
United States President Donald Trump has directed Bill Pulte to chop workers on the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence (ODNI) as quickly as he takes up his position as appearing intelligence chief.
The order got here in a Reality Social post on Wednesday, wherein Trump doubled down on his alternative of Pulte, a controversial decide.
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“I’ve named William Pulte to be Performing Director of Nationwide Intelligence, who will take over on June nineteenth, and have requested him to execute the fast and wanted downsizing of the workplace, reverting workers to their dwelling businesses,” Trump wrote.
Pulte’s appointment has sparked bipartisan pushback, with Democrats particularly questioning his {qualifications}.
A businessman with ties to building and personal fairness, Pulte has no intelligence or navy background, and critics see him as a Trump loyalist who has attacked the president’s critics.
In Wednesday’s submit, Trump did emphasise he was already looking for Pulte’s successor. “I’m in search of a everlasting ODNI Nominee with expertise in Nationwide Safety,” he wrote.
However Pulte’s short-term appointment has grow to be a flashpoint in Congress, with Democrats refusing to resume a controversial surveillance measure till a everlasting decide is chosen.
When he takes up his interim position subsequent week, Pulte will succeed former Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down final month after her husband was identified with most cancers.
However Congress members like Democrat Mark Warner, a key determine on the Senate Choose Committee on Intelligence, have decried Pulte as “grossly unqualified”.
Warner and different leaders have additionally warned that Pulte’s appointment would complicate negotiations to resume Section 702 of the Overseas Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which permits warrantless surveillance of communications involving foreigners.
That measure is divisive on each side of the aisle, because it has additionally resulted within the surveillance of US residents. It permits intelligence businesses to gather emails, texts and telephone information with out warrants, if the communications in query are believed to contain people outdoors the US.
Warner mentioned naming Pulte to go the ODNI was like “throwing a stay hand grenade” into Congress’s efforts to reauthorise Part 702.
Final week, all however one Senate Democrat and 7 Republicans voted in opposition to a three-year extension of Part 702, citing issues about Pulte. Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman was the one Democrat to interrupt social gathering ranks in that 52-47 vote.
However Trump has known as on Congress to move a short lived extension of Part 702, denouncing Democrats for blocking the invoice.
“Similar to they did on Border Funding, the Radical Left Dumocrats [sic] are attempting to take our Nationwide Safety hostage due to unrelated points,” Trump wrote on Wednesday. “They need to cease taking part in politics with the security of our Nice Nation.”
Nonetheless, Trump has confronted backlash from inside his Republican Social gathering, with congressional leaders calling on the president to pick a everlasting intelligence chief to place the matter to mattress.
“We don’t want a weaponised DNI [director of national intelligence],” Senate Majority Chief John Thune advised reporters. “We’d like professionals right here.”
Critics have questioned whether or not Pulte would use US intelligence capabilities to persecute Trump’s perceived political enemies.
Presently, the 38-year-old Pulte serves as the top of the Federal Housing Finance Company.
In that place, Pulte has accused a number of of Trump’s adversaries of mortgage fraud. They embody Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Lawyer Basic Letitia James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, all of whom Trump has personally attacked.
Democrats have accused the 38-year-old Pulte of weaponising his authorities position for political goals.
