President Trump’s pick to be acting director of national intelligence showed up to work on Thursday, one day earlier than he was expected, and asked for a list of every employee in his office so he could decide who to fire.
His visit to the office caught everyone off guard, CNN reports, including outgoing director Tulsi Gabbard, who only got a brief notice that Pulte was coming. Trump had previously said that Pulte would start his job on Friday.
On Thursday, Pulte reportedly met with lawyers and staff. Pulte alarmed intelligence officials last week when, in his only other briefing with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, he asked if he could bring the President’s Daily Brief to his house, one intelligence source told CNN. That includes sensitive, classified information on national security issues. (Another intelligence source disputed this account, saying that the brief is provided electronically.)
At that briefing with the ODNI, Pulte also asked about his security clearance level, and whether he’d get access to a government plane, even though the meeting was supposed to be about explaining the ODNI’s main mission.
Pulte has reportedly asked about the use of a plane numerous times, and wants to know his schedule so he can travel between D.C., Florida, and Chicago, as he splits his time between three places. He also asked for a protective security detail before starting his job at the ODNI, according to CNN.
This seems oddly familiar to anyone who has followed the career of FBI Director Kash Patel, who has flown around the country on government jets partying instead of focusing on his job running the government’s preeminent law enforcement agency.
Earlier this month, Trump said to The Wall Street Journal that he wanted Pulte to shrink the ODNI because he thought it was “too big.” The president added that as acting director, Pulte would have more freedom to gut the office before a director confirmed by the Senate assumed the position.
Trump’s choice of Pulte drew almost immediate backlash from Democrats as well as Republicans. Pulte had used his previous position as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as well as the finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to pursue mortgage-related criminal charges against Democrats and others who opposed Trump’s agenda.
Democrats sought to block extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to prevent Pulte’s appointment, leading Trump to announce a formal appointment to the directorate, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton, in order to pass the national security measure. (Trump has since unilaterally “postponed” Clayton’s confirmation hearing.)
Trump is now holding up FISA in order to force his voter restriction bill, the Save America Act, through Congress, even though it stands no chance of passing the Senate. It’s all a big mess, with Trump hoping for a loyalist at the ODNI to get rid of the people who might have inside information about him, while also leveraging a national security bill to restrict voting so his party doesn’t get massacred in November’s midterms. Will Republicans in Congress cave and give him everything he wants?
