When Tulsi Gabbard stepped down from her post as National Security Director to care for her ailing husband, President Trump got Democrats’ and even some Republicans’ knickers in a twist by naming the hard-charging Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, as Acting Director. Many Dems have a beef with Pulte, as I wrote earlier in June:
That announcement was met with swift resistance from Democrats and even some Republicans who said he was unqualified for the role and had no prior experience. He had also severely hurt the feelings of the Dems by referring Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, and NY Attorney General Letitia James to the Justice Department for mortgage fraud.
Trump then nominated Jay Clayton, the Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to take on the permanent job — but then asked Senate Republicans to delay the confirmation hearing because he felt they got played by Democrats on a vote involving the re-upping of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The president alleged that Democrats had pledged to renew the section, which involves conducting warrantless surveillance on non‑Americans located outside the U.S., in exchange for his replacing Pulte.
The president also reportedly wants to see Clayton’s replacement installed before having him take over as DNI.
What does all this mean? It means Pulte is still on the job and essentially able to go wild, since, as Acting Director, he does not need to face lawmakers at potentially testy confirmation hearings. According to multiple reports, that’s exactly what he’s doing as he’s allegedly sending out pink slips all over the place.
President Donald Trump’s new acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, began purging staff members at the office Monday, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.
“The deep state firings have begun,” the source said.
CNN was first to report that the dismissals were underway.
Pulte had signaled this move could be coming:
Sources had previously told CNN that Bill Pulte, Trump’s pick to serve as director of national intelligence in an acting capacity, was looking at cutting hundreds of jobs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Last week, Pulte showed up to his new job a day early after asking for a list of every employee in the office, sources told CNN, catching even outgoing director Tulsi Gabbard off-guard.
Trump has been pushing for the action, telling an interviewer in early June that he thought the agency was too bloated and populated by people “who shouldn’t be there.” Trump argued that Pulte’s “acting” status meant that he was “less shackled” and could move quickly on the issue.
Democrats are big mad at the news, and had earlier Monday sent Pulte a threatening letter demanding that he stand down.
“We are concerned that your record as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency demonstrates a willingness to misuse your position, including your access to sensitive information, to pursue President Trump’s perceived political enemies and further his retributive political agenda,” Virginia’s Sen. Mark Warner and Connecticut’s Rep. Jim Himes (04) wrote.
From the reports coming out of D.C. tonight, anyway, it would seem that Pulte is roundly ignoring them.
