Topline
President Donald Trump said he wants Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to begin slashing staff at the agency, he told The Wall Street Journal Friday, as his appointment of Pulte, a controversial figure in the Trump administration, has been widely criticized.
UNITED STATES – FEBRUARY 27: William Pulte, nominee to be director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is sworn in to his Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on Thursday, February 27, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Key Facts
Trump said Pulte can be “less shackled” in starting the process of cutting staff since he won’t remain in the role permanently.
“I’d like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there,” Trump said, adding, “it might be good for him to shake it up before” a permanent director is appointed.
Trump said he is interviewing potential nominees to serve in the role permanently, including “one from business and one from the world of politics,” though he declined to name them.
Pulte, Trump said, “is not going to be there that long.”
Trump floated the possibility of permanently eliminating the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees 18 federal intelligence agencies and units.
He said he wanted Pulte to take an approach similar to Department of Education head Linda McMahon, who has sought to effectively eliminate the agency and transfer some of its responsibilities to states.
What To Watch For
Trump also said he wants Pulte to consider releasing classified documents related to the 2020 election. “I would say everything—he should look at everything and make a determination,” Trump told the Journal when asked what type of documents.
Tangent
A measure to extend authorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act failed in the Senate earlier Friday after a group of Democrats who were expected to supply the votes necessary for it to pass reneged their support in protest of Pulte’s appointment. FISA, which is set to expire on June 12, allows intelligence officials to surveil people outside of the U.S. without a warrant.
Key Background
Trump announced this week he tapped Pulte to replace Tulsi Gabbard when she steps down at the end of the month. Gabbard, who clashed with Trump over the Iran war, has already started cutting the agency, reducing staff by 50%, an unnamed official told The Wall Street Journal. Pulte’s appointment was widely panned on both sides of the aisle over concerns about both his lack of experience in the intelligence field and his controversial moves as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In that role, he has led an effort to charge some of Trump’s enemies with mortgage fraud.
