Trump says Pulte won’t be his nominee for director of national intelligence
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte Selection of acting director of national intelligencewould not be his “permanent” choice for the critical security job.
The Republican president’s announcement that he declined to appoint Pulte to the full-time role follows bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill in recent days over Pulte’s lack of national security experience. The position requires Senate confirmation, and lawmakers have said that is unlikely if Pulte is the nominee.
“It’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he wants to be permanent,” Trump said while taking questions in the Oval Office. An incident related to coal. He called Pulte a “very smart guy” and said he could look at past elections that Trump claimed without credible evidence. “fraudulent” against him.
Trump said other candidates are also being considered to nominate for the post. “We are interviewing people right now,” he said.
Pulte, grandson of PulteGroup’s founder, a source of controversy He was on the board because of his directorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and his oversight of mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Pulte used his position to pursue Trump’s perceived political rivals over allegations of mortgage fraud and verbally attacked Jerome Powell, whose term as Federal Reserve chairman recently ended after Trump and Pulte attacked him for months for not lowering the central bank’s benchmark interest rates. The federal housing finance regulator also made a proposal. 50 year mortgagean idea that backfired because it meant the process of building wealth through homeownership would slow down.
Both Republican and Democratic senators expressed concerns about Pulte’s lack of national security credentials in his role coordinating 18 federal agencies that deal with domestic and foreign security issues. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s first director of national intelligence he resigned last monthciting her husband’s recent cancer diagnosis.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, said the post of national intelligence director should not be “weaponized” and should be run by “professionals.”
Republican Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas, who left the chamber after this year’s elections, also expressed concerns about Pulte.
Democratic senators view Pulte as a risk, even if he is temporarily serving as director of national intelligence while maintaining his position at FHFA.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter to Trump on Thursday urging him to rescind Pulte’s national security designation.
“Americans cannot trust him to protect our nation and refrain from misusing the sensitive information he has access to,” Warren wrote, saying that giving Pulte the mandate was a risk because Trump’s own words suggested the federal agency could be used “to support theories of election denial.”
At Wednesday’s hearing, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed reports that he had threatened to fight Pulte in September 2025; It’s a sign of the friction the federal housing finance director has created within the administration.
But Pulte, who travels frequently on Air Force One, has a close relationship with Trump.
“He is a person of high integrity,” Trump said of Pulte on Thursday.
