Profiles

Bill Pulte: the Trump-friendly acting intelligence director

The temporary Director of National Intelligence is a partisan appointment by the US president, who seems to want him to dig into the 2020 election

Retuers

Bill Pulte, nominated to be the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, sits on the day of a Senate committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on 27 February 2025.

Bill Pulte: the Trump-friendly acting intelligence director

Tarek Rashed

last update on 19 Jun 2026

In keeping with Donald Trump’s tendency to choose loyalists over specialists for his administration, the US President has appointed his friend Bill Pulte, 38, as the Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI), despite him having no intelligence or national security experience. The DNI oversees 18 agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), and the National Security Agency (NSA), so is incredibly sensitive.

He replaces Tulsi Gabbard on 19 June. She resigned citing family reasons but was reported to have disagreed with Trump over the administration’s approach to Iran. While he is acting DNI, Pulte will retain his positions as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and as chairman of the two giant federal mortgage finance institutions—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—which oversee transactions worth more than $10tn.

Trump has faced a storm of opposition to Pulte’s appointment from both Democrats and Republicans, so has announced the nomination of Jay Clayton, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as permanent Director of National Intelligence. Clayton enjoys the approval of lawmakers from both parties, but Trump still insists on appointing Pulte as Acting DNI before the Senate confirms Clayton. Pulte could serve for up to seven months, during which time he would have all the powers of a permanent DNI.

Who is Pulte, and why is he so controversial? Born in Florida in 1988 into a wealthy family, he was the sole heir of his grandfather, the construction billionaire William Pulte, and the first son of Noreen and Mark Pulte before his father remarried. His grandfather founded the real estate construction company PulteGroup. During high school, Pulte worked for a construction company. He later graduated in journalism from Northwestern University, where he met his wife, a chemical engineer.

After graduating, he worked for several capital investment companies before founding Pulte Capital in 2011. It employed more than 200 people and generated annual revenue of $30mn. In 2016, Pulte was appointed to the board of PulteGroup, chaired by his grandfather, becoming the youngest board member at one of the 500 largest companies, according to Forbes, but the board dismissed him in 2020, after his grandfather’s death.

Pulte then launched a charitable initiative on Twitter, attracting more than 3 million followers. In July 2019, Pulte promised to give cars to two veterans if Trump reposted a tweet praising him (Trump did). Pulte claimed that he had met Trump several times and that the president was aware of his charitable foundation’s activities. Pulte became a Republican donor and got involved in the Republican National Committee, and in Trump’s 2024 election campaign. Estimates of his wealth vary, but he said he would distance himself from his companies if he took up political office, and lobbied Trump for the post of Housing Secretary (which went to Scott Turner).

Bill Pulte speaks with reporters at the White House in September 2025.

The president’s bulldog

After his inauguration in January 2025, Trump nominated Pulte to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). After Pulte won Senate approval, he began by tightening his grip on the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, dismissing 14 senior board members and cancelling many of the policies and decisions adopted by the two institutions under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden. These included programmes designed to combat fraud and unfairness in mortgage lending.

He also dismissed dozens of employees at the two institutions with no notice, particularly those overseeing fairness in housing policies within the Federal Home Loan Bank system. Pulte also obstructed the implementation of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies introduced by the Biden administration. He claimed that he had dismissed about 25% of the FHFA’s workforce and accused more than 100 officials at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac of unethical conduct. Senate Democrats called on the FHFA’s inspector-general to investigate the dismissals.

In June 2025, Pulte directed the two lenders to recognise cryptocurrencies as assets that could qualify borrowers for mortgage loans. He also ordered a comprehensive review of credit rating agencies, causing their market value to fall. According to The Wall Street Journal, Pulte announced policies on Twitter (now X) without consulting officials or experts, and instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to approve alternative credit rating agencies after questioning the reliability of the traditional firms.

Trump has faced a storm of opposition to Pulte's appointment from both Democrats and Republicans

Digging the dirt

His policies worsened the country's housing crisis, especially for those with lower incomes, despite Trump's campaign pledges to make it better. Bloomberg News even accused him of working against Trump's agenda to provide housing for citizens. Yet Pulte appears to have been doing his boss's bidding in another important area, creating a website to expose what he described as mortgage fraud, but that critics say is just a way of settling scores with Trump's political opponents.

One such opponent is Democrat Letitia James, the first Black woman to serve as Attorney General of New York, who filed a civil lawsuit against the Trump Organisation (the fraud charge was upheld). After Pulte revealed that she had claimed that her primary residence was in Virginia (it emerged that it was in New York), Trump called her a "crook", and Pulte referred her to the Department of Justice for investigation on charges of falsifying official documents to obtain a government-backed mortgage.

Pulte used the same tool to target the Democratic Senator from California, Adam Schiff (who led Congressional investigations into Trump with a view to impeaching him) and Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to sit on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, who was nominated by President Biden. Trump tried to fire Cook by tweet, but the Fed is independent, and the courts later ruled that he had no authority to do so.

Getty — Bill Pulte is sworn in during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on 27 February 2025.

Not making friends

According to Politico, Pulte's conduct has angered several senior Republican officials. Pulte's extreme flattery of the president, even to the point of imitating him, has earned him the nickname "Little Trump". Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly threatened to punch Pulte at a club because Pulte had spoken ill of him to Trump. However, last month, Trump said Pulte would dig into matters related to "election fraud," fuelling theories as to what lies behind his nomination.

Pulte repeatedly urged Trump to appoint him to the post, expressing support for Trump's foreign policy, especially on Iran. Reports indicate that Trump was encouraged by his political advisor, Roger Stone, and others in the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement. Former advisor Steve Bannon also praised Pulte's appointment, whilst taking aim at the Senate and the so-called "deep state". Trump later told The Wall Street Journal that he had asked Pulte to dismiss staff at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and supported him in shutting it down.

The White House defended Pulte's nomination to the DNI post, saying he was a reformer hardened by experience in safeguarding sensitive information and correcting the course of giant government institutions. It cited his leadership, charisma, integrity, and commitment to America First interests, adding that Pulte had a strong record of rescuing failing institutions, protecting sensitive American assets, and confronting entrenched centres of power, qualities it said were required to protect the American people and confront global threats.

According to CNN, Pulte has not yet obtained the security clearance required for the role. Some Democrats fear that his lack of intelligence experience, and his seemingly blind loyalty to Trump, will tempt him to abuse his powers. Democratic Senator from Georgia Jon Ossoff, a member of the Intelligence Committee, described Pulte as "a thug and a hack," saying his appointment was "maybe the most chilling and the most dangerous that this president has made". Some Republicans, including Texas Senator John Cornyn, are also unhappy. John Thune, the Republican majority leader in the Senate, expressed concern that the DNI post could also be used to settle scores.

Intel community backlash

Intelligence chiefs are understood to be perturbed by Pulte's appointment. The Democratic Senator from Virginia, who is vice-chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the intelligence community was terrified of disclosing any information to Pulte. Democrats have threatened not to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) unless Trump withdraws Pulte's nomination, but Trump described those opposing Pulte's nomination as "radical left Democrats driven by partisan motives," even though influential Republicans share their opposition.

Federal law states that the DNI "should have extensive national security expertise", but Trump has the authority to appoint Pulte to the post temporarily for 210 days without needing Senate approval. Democratic Senator Mark Warner said Pulte's appointment could cause grave damage, as he has not obtained security clearances but would gain access to the most sensitive information. Warner added that intelligence agency heads, and even foreign governments, had expressed concern.

"Why are the Democrats so afraid of Bill Pulte at DNI???" Trump asked on social media. "He would only be Acting! What do they have to be afraid of? What are they hiding? There must be something BIG, mustn't there???" Warner said the one thing he knew for certain about Pulte was that he would do anything Trump asked of him, just as he had done at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. This represented a danger to national security, Warner felt. Time will tell if he is right.

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