Trump presses on with plan to install Bill Pulte as acting intelligence chief | US politics
Donald Trump is pushing ahead with his controversial plan to install political stalwart Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence; It’s a move that has sparked bipartisan congressional backlash and jeopardizes the reauthorization of a powerful surveillance law that expires later this week.
Trump’s Tuesday evening announcement It comes after Pulte met with House speaker Mike Johnson earlier in the day to discuss his ascension to the post; This has led to widespread concerns that Pulte has a complete lack of national security experience and the possibility that he could use the office’s espionage powers to continue his campaign to target Trump’s perceived political enemies.
Writing on social media, Trump said Pulte was already working with outgoing director Tulsi Gabbard and would replace her on June 19 while remaining as head of the federal mortgage agency.
Gabbard, a former congresswoman who served in the military and later sat on the House subcommittee that oversees military intelligence. his resignation letter He said he would resign on June 30.
Trump has not made any statements about Pulte taking over before that date, but the president has said in public statements that he expected his political ally to investigate the election, which he falsely claimed was “rigged” after he was appointed as the nation’s top intelligence officer.
While Trump has insisted that Pulte will serve in the role only for a “brief time,” many Senate Republicans want the White House to nominate a full-time nominee who can be confirmed by the chamber. Pulte’s elevation to the post on an acting basis avoids a contentious confirmation process.
Democratic lawmakers quickly said Pulte’s appointment would disrupt a bipartisan agreement to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was set to expire Friday.
This powerful intelligence tool has long been controversial, as the program targets foreign nationals whose messages may pass through US servers or contain US connections; This means a wide range of domestic communications can be deleted without a search warrant.
FBI in 2020 discovered using section 702 to investigate whether protesters involved in Black Lives Matter had any connections to terrorists, according to a declassified memo released by the director of national intelligence in 2023 that will soon be filed by Pulte.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday that Democrats will not allow a reauthorization of the surveillance law if Trump establishes Pulte.
“Bill Pulte is extremely unqualified and extremely dangerous to serve as acting director of national intelligence,” Jeffries said. he told PBS NewsHour.
“He has no national security experience, no military experience, and no law enforcement experience. In fact, the law expressly requires that any person serving in this highly sensitive position have national security experience in their professional background. Bill Pulte has zero of that experience.”
“He is also someone who has made clear his desire to weaponize the federal government against perceived rivals of Donald Trump,” said Jeffries, who could become speaker of the House of Representatives next year. “So under no circumstances should we trust Donald Trump and Kash Patel, as well as Bill Pulte and the privacy interests or national security interests of the American people.”
As head of a federal mortgage agency, Pulte used his access to private financial information to accuse public officials Trump disliked of mortgage fraud; they include Democratic New York attorney general Letitia James, California Democrat Senator Adam Schiff and Joe Biden-nominated Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook.
The case against James was dismissed and no criminal charges were filed against Schiff and Cook.
“Donald Trump needs to reverse his decision to promote Bill Pulte,” Jeffries said. “This is a starting point, not an ending point, and then we can see if we can responsibly get to a place where there is adequate reform of the law to provide guardrails and protect the American people.”
