President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte would become acting director of national intelligence. Pulte is stepping in to replace Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned from her post last month. Though Trump claimed his appointee “has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America,” he’ll take the position with literally zero relevant experience for coordinating 17 American intelligence agencies’ work.
But Pulte’s appointment makes slightly more sense when you consider his place in Trump’s orbit. The 38-year-old heir to his family’s massive home construction company shares the president’s love of social media bullying, golf and abusing power for personal gain. In currying Trump’s favor, he’s become the boy who cried “fraud,” using his limited portfolio to find leverage against the president’s enemies. With the broader remit his new perch provides, Pulte could do much more harm that he already has, opening the door to threats both foreign and domestic.
In currying Trump’s favor, he’s become the boy who cried “fraud,” using his limited portfolio to find leverage against the president’s enemies
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created in the aftermath of 9/11, based on the idea that one office should be responsible for sorting the signal from the noise amid a cacophony of perpetually incoming data. Pulte’s appointment as acting DNI fits within the general rule that acting officials in high-ranking roles must be Senate-confirmed. But his lack of any experience and newfound ability to cherry-pick data for Trump’s benefit rather than the national interest reveals a major problem with that standard.
Before Tuesday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche would have been the slam-dunk pick for most dangerous sycophant Trump has installed. Pulte’s new appointment challenges that claim. Since stepping into his role at the FHFA — which he will still hold while overseeing America’s intelligence operation — he has acted as though he is part of the president’s law enforcement team.
Over the past year, Pulte has referred at least four members of Trump’s enemies list — New York Attorney General Letitia James, then-Rep. Eric Swalwell, Sen. Adam Schiff of California and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — to the Justice Department for investigation for alleged mortgage fraud.
In all but one of the cases he has passed on to prosecutors, no charges have come about — a testament to the flimsiness of the evidence Pulte provided in his. A federal grand jury handed up charges against James in Virginia, but they were later thrown out and two subsequent grand juries refused to indict her. Undeterred, Pulte pushed a new criminal referral against James for alleged insurance fraud earlier this year.
It should be obvious that drawing predetermined conclusions, then searching for evidence, isn’t ideal when dealing with the life-and-death stakes of foreign intelligence. Pulte appears to have done just that from his position overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, prompting concerns from internal watchdogs about just how he gathered the mortgage documents he then passed on to prosecutors. Last year, the Government Accountability Office opened an investigation into Pulte’s actions and a federal grand jury began investigating whether he illegally shared grand jury information, though neither have issued any conclusion.
Pulte has also stretched beyond the confines of his remit in the name of pleasing Trump. Last year, Pulte inserted himself into the president’s war against the Federal Reserve’s then-Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. The New York Times noted in July that he would leap to echo any of Trump’s gripes about interest rates “with a post demanding Mr. Powell’s resignation.” The Times also reported Pulte drafted a letter for Trump to fire Powell that was never issued, but made its way to the Resolute Desk. Alongside the previously mentioned fraud claims, he has also targeted Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook for investigation. (Any wrongdoing proved on Cook’s part freeing up her seat for Trump to appoint a replacement would surely only be a knock-on effect.)
Pulte’s ability to draw bad conclusions from little to no evidence is also plentiful inside what should be his policy area. Most embarrassingly, he reportedly sold Trump on 50-year mortgages at the president’s golf club via a posterboard that was shockingly devoid of any information. The backlash from congressional Republicans (and anyone with any knowledge of housing policy) was swift, leading Trump to back down from the idea.
Despite all that, Pulte got the job in part due to his ties with his predecessor, according to Semafor. His links to Gabbard reportedly made him a great choice in the eyes of Roger Stone and other influential MAGA figures, who hope he will help lead a declassification spree on topics conspiracy theorists love. (Pulte hosted an event two years ago highlighting conspiracy theories surrounding Bed Bath & Beyond’s bankruptcy, which just goes to show that there’s always new depths of weirdness out there.)
Granted, Gabbard had her own issues as DNI, not least being her active interest in the 2020 election conspiracies that Trump circulated. Two Democratic senators raised concerns with MS NOW that Pulte wouldn’t just follow her lead but would intensify any effort to discredit election results this fall.
The job’s requirements clash with Pulte’s demeanor in a way that can’t be overcome.
“If he’s been able to manipulate and weaponize mortgage information, think about if you got the keys to all of the intelligence agencies,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said. “I’m worried about his willingness to take a fabricated piece of intelligence, or a raw piece of intelligence that has not been verified, and use it as an excuse to interfere in the elections.”
The odds that Pulte manages to land the gig permanently already seem slim. It feels like a stretch to claim that any time spent in the acting role would grant him the “extensive national security experience” the law requires the DNI to possess. Senate Republicans meanwhile gave the news of his appointment a cool response, with Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota saying, “We don’t need a weaponized DNI. We need professionals there.” But the law governing vacant positions provides enough flexibility for Pulte to stay in the position for months, if not the entirety of Trump’s remaining term.
However long Pulte’s tenure as head of national intelligence lasts will be a disservice to the agents and analysts who work under him. The job’s requirements clash with Pulte’s demeanor in a way that can’t be overcome. He will remain a threat for as long as he holds the role, not merely for the politicized targets that will draw his focus but for the actual threats that could slip past him unnoticed.
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