President Donald Trump said Thursday that his newly appointed acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, will not take up the position permanently.
Trump made the remarks while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, two days after appointing Pulte to the acting role, a move that prompted pushback from members of his own party.
“It’s an acting position. It’s not permanent,” Trump said. “I don’t think he’d want to be permanent.”
Republicans criticized Pulte’s appointment to lead the nation’s spy agencies, citing his lack of national security and intelligence experience.
Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., questioned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday over an interaction reported by Politico last year in which Bessent was said to have threatened to physically attack Pulte.
“Did you actually tell Pulte you were going to punch him in the face?” Tillis asked Bessent during a hearing on Capitol Hill.
“No, sir, I actually said I was going to kick his ass,” Bessent responded.
“Good. OK. Good. I share the emotion. Thank you,” Tillis said, adding he had made it clear he would not vote in favor of Pulte’s nomination.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also distanced himself from Pulte during a hearing Wednesday, answering “no” when asked if he knew of Pulte’s name “in the context of the intelligence community.”
Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also suggested in a statement he would not support Pulte’s nomination.
“Very few Senate-confirmable positions come with statutory eligibility requirements. There are good reasons why the Director of National Intelligence is one of them. Anyone performing this role of such immense public trust must have the extensive national security experience required by statute, and no nominee who falls short of this requirement will earn my vote,” McConnell said.
Should Pulte be nominated to the role permanently, he would require a simple majority in the Senate to be confirmed. But the immediate pushback from some Senate Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber, could have made for an uphill battle to confirm him.
Still, the president said that Pulte, a Trump loyalist who had used his position as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to launch investigations into Trump’s perceived political foes, “may find out some things about the rigged elections” while he serves as director of national intelligence.
Before stepping down from her post as director of national intelligence, in January, Tulsi Gabbard visited an elections hub in the key battleground of Fulton County, Georgia, where the FBI executed a raid seeking records related to the 2020 presidential election.
As spy chief, the director of national intelligence is prohibited from participating in domestic law enforcement. Gabbard drew backlash for her presence at the raid. She defended herself by saying Trump had requested her presence there.
