Democrats demand security checks for Trump intelligence pick Bill Pulte

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday demanded that Bill Pulte, President Donald Trump’s controversial pick for acting director of national intelligence, submit to a full security check before assuming the post, including an examination of his financial holdings and foreign contacts.

“Never has a person with so little experience or understanding had at their fingertips the sources and methods of the intelligence community,” the lawmakers, led by Rep. Jim Himes (Connecticut), wrote in a letter to Trump. “A security clearance granted under executive authority is insufficient to safeguard classified information.”

Trump announced earlier this month that he was appointing Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to be his acting intelligence czar, a post that coordinates and oversees 18 U.S. spy agencies. Democrats and some Republicans expressed shock at the choice, given that Pulte has no intelligence or national security experience.

Pulte has used his current position to launch mortgage fraud investigations of individuals Trump considers political adversaries, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board. Former U.S. intelligence officials and Democratic lawmakers have expressed alarm that Pulte would weaponize secret intelligence information against Trump’s foes.

Trump has shrugged off the criticism. In a Truth Social post Tuesday, he said that Pulte will take over as acting director of national intelligence June 19 while retaining his other posts, which include being chairman of U.S. government mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Trump’s current intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, had planned to stay through June 30.

Trump said last week that he expected Pulte to look into “rigged elections,” despite the lack of evidence of outside interference in U.S. ballot counting.

Pulte should also begin the process of firing employees at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Trump told The Wall Street Journal last week. The intelligence czar lacks the power to fire employees at other spy agencies, such as the CIA. Gabbard has said she reduced the ODNI workforce by roughly 40%.

In the letter to Trump, 11 House Intelligence Committee Democrats said Pulte should undergo a rigorous security check, including a polygraph exam.

“To the best of our knowledge, Mr. Pulte would be the first individual to serve as the head of an intelligence agency without ever having held a security clearance or otherwise been authorized to access classified information,” they wrote. “It is likely that Mr. Pulte has never received a classified briefing or reviewed a classified document.”

Democrats appear to have limited options to block Pulte from becoming intelligence czar on an acting basis. He can serve for up to 210 days without Senate confirmation.

Trump’s pick has thrown into crisis the renewal of a key electronic surveillance authority, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is due to expire Friday.

Democratic lawmakers say it is harder to make the case for renewing Section 702 with Pulte as acting director of national intelligence. The law allows national security agencies to gather the texts and emails of foreigners located overseas from U.S. communications providers, without a warrant. The electronic snooping sometimes inadvertently ensnares communications involving U.S. citizens, which has long rankled privacy advocates in Congress.

Republican leaders have scrambled to find a solution ahead of the deadline, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) traveling to the White House for direct talks with Trump.

Trump, in a Truth Social post Wednesday, said: “The Radical Left Dumocrats are trying to take our National Security hostage because of unrelated issues. They should stop playing politics with the safety of our Great Country.”

Trump said Congress should send him a short-term extension of FISA 702, which U.S. officials say provides critical intelligence on terrorist plots, drug traffickers and other threats.

Sen. Mark R. Warner (Virginia), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters Wednesday that he could accept a short-term extension if Gabbard’s top deputy, Aaron Lukas, led the agency during that period.

“If we want to keep 702 alive, the administration simply needs to follow the law,” Warner said.

The Senate rejected an attempt to take up FISA late last week, after several right-wing Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the legislation. One of those Republicans — Sen. Rick Scott (Florida) — told reporters this week that he continues to demand a warrant requirement to secure his support.

“I certainly hope that everyone will do the right thing,” Johnson said about asking the House to vote for a short-term extension of FISA.

“We’re not asking for anything heroic here,” he said.

Johnson said he talked to Trump on Wednesday morning about the individuals he’s considering for the full-time DNI job. Johnson said the president “is actively working through that process” and that he would hope that Democrats would “want him to take deliberate action, to take his time to choose the right person.”

“That’s not something you probably can rush,” Johnson said. “We need to give the president time. He has extraordinary candidates. I know some of them that are on this list and he is working through that. He wasn’t ready to jump the gun this morning and name [them].”

_

• Matthew Choi contributed.