{"id":270,"date":"2026-06-02T23:45:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=270"},"modified":"2026-06-02T23:45:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:45:37","slug":"what-trump-wants-from-bill-pulte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=270","title":{"rendered":"What Trump Wants From Bill Pulte"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

President Trump\u2019s critics would have you believe that William John Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is not qualified to serve as the director of national intelligence, the job that Trump gave him on an acting basis this morning. They correctly note that Pulte, the heir to a home-construction company, has no background in national security, and that this would seem to disqualify him from serving as the nation\u2019s most senior intelligence official, on the grounds of not only common sense but also the law, which requires that the DNI have \u201cextensive national security experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more One Reason Trump Might Have Chosen His New Intelligence Chief<\/a><\/p>\n

But what if the naysayers are looking at things all wrong? The president has shown no sign that he wants a DNI who can coordinate the work of 18 intelligence agencies and harness the power of a multibillion-dollar global-espionage network to provide senior government leaders the best up-to-the-minute information about threats to U.S. national security. No, what Trump has made very clear is that he wants a DNI who will selectively declassify government documents that help fuel conspiracy theories, use the authorities of the state to enact political retribution against his enemies, and try to persuade Americans that Venezuela and maybe the Democratic Party are rigging elections by fiddling with voting machines.<\/p>\n

From that perspective, Bill Pulte is even better suited for the job than the woman he\u2019s replacing. In her 15-month tenure as the DNI, the former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabard merely accused \u201cdeep-state\u201d actors of launching a \u201cyearslong coup\u201d against Trump, which apparently continued while he was out of office and may still be happening. Pulte, meanwhile, made criminal referrals to the Justice Department, alleging mortgage fraud by some of Trump’s most reviled political adversaries, including Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, Senator Adam Schiff, former New York Attorney General Letitia James, and former Representative Eric Swalwell.<\/p>\n

Never mind that none of Pulte\u2019s targets has gone to prison, and that some insist he is attempting to criminalize paperwork errors. Pulte has been a tireless fighter for the president, so committed to the MAGA cause that some administration colleagues nicknamed him \u201cLittle Trump.\u201d He has, on occasion, even turned on those who he suspects aren\u2019t serving the boss well, provoking their anger. \u201cWhy the fuck are you talking to the president about me? Fuck you,\u201d Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly told Pulte at a dinner attended by administration officials and presidential advisers last year. \u201cI\u2019m gonna punch you in your fucking face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulte was a stronger minister of political vengeance as the self-appointed chair of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than Gabbard ever was as the nation\u2019s top spy, and he had access only to mortgage records. Trump might be imagining what Pulte could do when he gets his hands on the most highly classified secrets in the government.<\/p>\n

The reactions to Pulte\u2019s appointment among current and former intelligence officials I talked with, in the United States and overseas, ranged from disbelief to resignation. Gabbard was widely regarded as an unserious leader and political loyalist. No one imagined that Trump would replace her with someone better qualified. But Pulte managed to defy even those low expectations.<\/p>\n

When Marc Polymeropoulos read the news on X this morning, \u201cI thought it was a joke,\u201d the retired CIA officer told me. \u201cAnd then my phone blew up\u201d with messages from former colleagues, some of them outraged, some despondent. \u201cWe were nearly all worried about the possibility of a highly weaponized DNI. Some, myself included, also thought this was designed to get rid\u201d of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Polymeropoulos said.<\/p>\n

Read more How to (Try to) Get a Job Now<\/a><\/p>\n

Democratic lawmakers were predictably appalled by Pulte\u2019s selection. \u201cThe concern is not only that Mr. Pulte lacks the \u2018extensive national security experience\u2019 required by statute for the job,\u201d Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat and the vice chair of the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. \u201cIt is that he appears to have been selected precisely because the White House believes he will provide the narrative it wants, not the intelligence we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even the Senate majority leader, John Thune, wasn\u2019t enthused. He told reporters: \u201cWe don\u2019t need a weaponized DNI; we need professionals there.\u201d Should Trump nominate Pulte as the permanent occupant of the office, the Republican from South Dakota said, he will face \u201ca lengthy road ahead of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

This all assumes, of course, that Trump intends to nominate Pulte. But he has given no indication that he will. Trump has a long history of putting officials in senior positions on an acting basis, effectively bypassing the Senate\u2019s advice-and-consent role. Pulte can still pack a lot into a temporary stint. In just three months as the acting DNI in Trump\u2019s first term, Ric Grenell managed to fire career officials, restructure the office, and declassify documents about Russia\u2019s interference in the 2016 election, a blitz that so alienated lawmakers, he would never have stood a chance at confirmation if Trump had nominated him. (Trump instead tapped John Ratcliffe, who also faced questions about his qualifications at the time, but is now the director of the CIA.)<\/p>\n

Pulte doesn\u2019t need the Senate\u2019s blessing to carry out and broaden a campaign that Gabbard started, tendentiously releasing classified information, misrepresenting it in public, and rooting out the supposed deep state. And he\u2019ll do it all on a part-time basis. Trump said Pulte will continue running the housing agency; acting as the DNI will be his side hustle.<\/p>\n

Trump has mused to friends and advisers about disbanding the office, which has never really fulfilled the vision that Congress laid out for it two decades ago, after the 9\/11 attacks. The DNI was supposed to ensure that intelligence agencies collaborated and never again failed to connect the dots about major threats to the nation. In practice, the office has added another layer to an already very large bureaucracy, which has managed through trial and error to figure out how to work collectively. Today, members of both parties think that the office needs reform, and that it is perhaps redundant.<\/p>\n

Gabbard won the support of Senate Republicans, who were skeptical of her own slim credentials, by promising to reduce the headcount in her office. She did that, albeit in a highly politicized manner. Democrats were outraged, but they\u2019re not exactly lining up to save the office or give it more authority. By appointing an unqualified acting director, Trump may succeed in diminishing the ODNI\u2019s reputation so much that a future Democratic president would find it easier to abolish the office altogether. Pulte might make history twice, as the least qualified DNI\u2014and the last.<\/p>\n

Read more The Ordinary Miracle of Existing<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency has no experience in national security but can be counted on to go after the president\u2019s enemies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-security"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Trump Wants From Bill Pulte - Commercial Relocation Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=270\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Trump Wants From Bill Pulte - Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency has no experience in national security but can be counted on to go after the president\u2019s enemies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=270\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T23:45:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=270#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=270\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"headline\":\"What Trump Wants From Bill Pulte\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T23:45:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=270\"},\"wordCount\":1151,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=270#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/6947ba1a80bc700d3aed66f4cfdfad62.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"National Security\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=270#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=270\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=270\",\"name\":\"What Trump Wants From Bill Pulte - 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