President Donald Trump on Tuesday tapped Bill Pulte, who leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to serve as acting director of national intelligence, replacing outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard.
Pulte, who has served as an attack dog against Trump’s foes, has no known prior intelligence experience.
But in his new role, he will oversee the sprawling U.S. intelligence community, which includes the CIA and National Security Agency.
Democrats immediately condemned Pulte’s appointment, and the Senate’s top Republican also criticized the move.
“We don’t need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Thune said he is seeking more information from the Trump administration “about the current state of their thinking about that position.”
Pulte will keep his existing titles as FHFA director and chairman of the mortgage groups Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing the decision.
Trump had previously announced that Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas would take over as acting DNI after Gabbard, who was slated to depart June 30.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for clarification on when Pulte’s tenure at DNI would begin, and whether Lukas would remain in his current role.
“William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets, and over 10 Trillion Dollars at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, a substantial increase from where it was just 12 months ago,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
From his perch atop the normally low-profile housing regulatory agency, Pulte has spurred a firestorm of controversy by raising allegations of mortgage-related wrongdoing against several of Trump’s political opponents.
Pulte last year filed a criminal referral against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook for mortgage fraud based on Cook allegedly claiming two different properties as her primary residence at the same time.
Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook participates in a board meeting at the Federal Reserve on March 19, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
Trump, who has long urged the Fed to lower interest rates and frequently complains about the central bank’s refusal to act accordingly, attempted to fire Cook based on the mortgage allegations.
Cook sued to stop her firing; her case is currently pending before the Supreme Court.
Pulte also submitted a criminal referral against New York Attorney General Letitia James on allegations of falsifying bank documents and property records in connection with a home mortgage she obtained in 2020.
James was charged in October with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. In November, a federal judge dismissed her case after ruling that the interim U.S. attorney who brought the indictment, former Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, was invalidly appointed.
Gabbard told Trump on May 22 that she had to step down as DNI in order to support her husband following his diagnosis of “an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
— CNBC’s Garrett Downs contributed to this report.
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