President Donald Trump appointed federal housing regulator Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence Tuesday, elevating a political loyalist with no national security experience to lead the sprawling U.S. intelligence community at a time of war and global tensions.
Pulte, 38, used his position as head of a low-profile mortgage regulatory agency to push for investigations of several of Trump's perceived enemies for alleged mortgage fraud. None have yet resulted in criminal charges. Pulte replaces the departing Tulsi Gabbard in the intelligence post.
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Democrats and at least one Republican blasted Pulte as unqualified to oversee U.S. intelligence services.
Pulte can serve in the job for up to 210 days without being confirmed by the Senate. That time frame would allow him to stay in the post through the November midterm elections in which Trump's fellow Republicans seek to retain control of Congress.
U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte speaks to reporters Jan. 9 at the White House in Washington.
Multiple roles
Trump said Pulte will continue as Federal Housing Finance Agency director and chair of federally supported mortgage-backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while also overseeing the 18 agencies that comprise the U.S. intelligence community.
"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," Trump wrote on his social media platform.
Pulte, who has no experience in intelligence, will oversee the premier foreign spy service, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency, the massive agency that eavesdrops on foreign communications and helps defend the United States against cyberattacks.
Senate Republican Leader John Thune said Pulte might have trouble winning confirmation in the narrowly divided chamber if Trump decides to nominate him to the post beyond the current temporary appointment.
"If he's somebody we want in that position permanently, he's got a lengthy road ahead of him," Thune said, according to Semafor.
Outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin attend a Cabinet meeting May 27 at the White House in Washington.
Gabbard, a Trump appointee who served as director of national intelligence since February 2025, announced plans last month to leave the post effective June 30. Reuters reported Gabbard was forced from the role over frictions with the White House. Gabbard said she resigned due to her husband's recent cancer diagnosis.
Like Pulte, Gabbard used the traditionally nonpartisan intelligence position to advance Trump's political interests, taking a leading role in efforts to investigate the president's widely debunked claims of 2020 election fraud.
His appointment comes as the United States is embroiled in the Iran war and a raft of other foreign policy challenges, including Russia's war on Ukraine and China's growing military and economic clout.
Pulte did not respond to a request for comment.
Bill Pulte testifies Feb. 27, 2025, during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.
'Partisan thug'
"I don't see any evidence of qualifications for that job," said Republican John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee who lost a primary election last week to a Trump-backed challenger.
Pulte encouraged prosecutions of the president's perceived political enemies, accusing New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Senator Adam Schiff, both Democrats, and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, of mortgage fraud.
A federal grand jury refused to indict James in a Justice Department prosecution. Officials have not brought charges against Schiff, who denies the allegations.
Trump attempted to fire Cook — an unprecedented move by a president against a U.S. central bank official — over Pulte's unsubstantiated accusations, but courts allowed her to remain in the role. She, too, denied the allegations. The Supreme Court is expected to rule in the coming weeks in her case.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Pulte a "partisan thug."
"A guy who can file such baseless, political and outrageous charges against political office holders he doesn't like can't be entrusted to protect our national security," Schumer said.
President Donald Trump waves Sunday as he returns to the White House in Washington.
Family business
Pulte is heir to his family's residential development firm, PulteGroup, which was founded by his grandfather in the 1950s. He previously founded a private equity firm, Pulte Capital, and is involved in large-scale philanthropic activity.
As intelligence director, Gabbard led several initiatives she cast as rooting out politicization from the intelligence community. But she was largely absent from deliberations between Trump and his top national security advisers on major foreign policy issues.
She was present in January at an FBI search of an election facility in Georgia, one of the key battlegrounds in Trump's 2020 election loss to Biden. The search, records later showed, was based on questionable data supplied by a White House political appointee known for echoing Trump's false claims of election fraud.
Pulte's views on the 2020 election were not immediately clear. He deleted 25,000 social media posts before Trump nominated him to serve as FHFA head, according to Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren.
