President Trump said Thursday that William J. Pulte, tapped to serve as Director of National Intelligence, will only be a temporary head of the office as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle question the pick.
“It’s an acting position, it’s not permanent – he’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent,” Mr. Trump said.
The president said Mr. Pulte, who is currently the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is “very smart” and has “high integrity,” but added that his team is interviewing people for the role.
Mr. Trump described Mr. Pulte as “somebody just to take over for a little while.”
When asked if Mr. Pulte has the experience for such a sensitive position, Mr. Trump responded, “yes.”
“I think he does, actually, because he’s smart,” Mr. Trump said. “I wasn’t greatly experienced in national security and I think I’ve done a really great job with it. Again, it’s short term, but he may be very effective for a short period of time.”
Mr. Trump announced Tuesday that he picked Mr. Pulte to replace Tulsi Gabbard to serve in the position. Ms. Gabbard resigned from the office last month, citing her husband’s battle with cancer.
Republicans and Democrats have criticized the pick, saying Mr. Pulte is a former real estate executive with no formal background in national security or intelligence. They also expressed concern over Mr. Pulte’s using his current position as a financial watchdog to investigate and target the president’s political adversaries.
“We don’t need a weaponized DNI; we need professionals there,” Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, told reporters.
Mr. Thune also suggested that Mr. Pulte might not have the votes to be confirmed as a permanent director of national intelligence.
“Whoever told the president to go ahead and commit to this publicly before vetting it should lose their jobs, because they should know that the math just works against Pulte being confirmed,” Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican, told reporters.
