C-SPAN
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Trump to keep Pulte in DNI role for "as long as it takes"
Posted
June 17, 2026
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June 17, 2026
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148
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1:26Now PlayingPresident Trump said Wednesday that Bill Pulte will serve as acting director of national intelligence for the foreseeable future as he demands Congress address his other priorities first.
"As long as it takes to get everybody else approved," he told reporters at the G7 summit when asked how long he was willing to have Mr. Pulte head the intelligence community. "They were doing a rush act, and we didn't get anything for it. Look, he's a very legitimate guy, he's very smart."
The appointment of Mr. Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency who has no experience in intelligence matters, was met with deep skepticism on Capitol Hill and upended a bipartisan deal to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Democrats demanded that Mr. Pulte never be allowed to head the nation's 18 intelligence agencies in exchange for their support for renewing the key surveillance authority.
President Trump then nominated Jay Clayton, the current top federal prosecutor in New York, for the permanent DNI role. Republicans quickly scheduled a confirmation hearing for Wednesday, setting him up to be confirmed by Friday, when Mr. Pulte was set to take over in the acting role.
Early Wednesday morning, the president said he was postponing Mr. Clayton's confirmation hearing until Congress approves Jamie McDonald, his former personal attorney, for Mr. Clayton's former post and approves the SAVE America Act, his voting overhaul bill that is well short of the support needed to pass.
"I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it," he wrote on social media. "Not complicated, actually, the Republicans fell into a trap. Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney. In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence."
#trump #billpulte #dni #fisa #cspan
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