President Donald Trump has announced his pick to replace National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned last month, effective June 30, with what critics call one of the most “jaw-droppingly unqualified” sycophants among Trump’s MAGA base.
Opponents warn that the choice of federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Director Bill Pulte as acting national intelligence director is not only a disservice to the agency by selecting someone with no intelligence experience at all, but also puts Americans’ lives at risk.
Pulte went after New York Attorney Gen. Letitia James on Trump’s orders over flimsy and trumped-up mortgage fraud charges, which a court quickly threw out last fall. Trump is seeking retribution, targeting his political enemies, and James falls squarely in that column after she charged the president with felony crimes related to his fraudulent business dealings in New York.
Lawmakers, angry over the ignorant choice of a “partisan thug” to head up a department so integral to the country’s national security needs, are weighing in on the choice.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other lawmakers warned that Pulte is a disastrous pick and could seriously jeopardize national security.
“Bill Pulte is a partisan thug with no experience in intelligence,” Schumer declared.
“He is another unqualified Trump appointee that will make our country less safe. And you won’t hear a word from the Republicans who claim to care about national security,” the senior senator from New York pointed out.
“Jaw droppingly unqualified—Bill Pulte is a danger to national security as DNI. His knee bending sycophancy to Trump only adds insult to injury, mocking & degrading our intelligence community,” Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal warned in a post on X.
And California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff agrees.
“At a time when the U.S. is at war and the threats to national security loom large, we need a Director of National Intelligence who is knowledgeable, experienced, and respected,” Schiff stated.
“Bill Pulte is none of these things. He politicized and weaponized the housing agencies and will do the same in the intelligence community. And Americans will be less safe as a result,” he added.
Pulte made new criminal referrals against James in Miami and Chicago in March, still trying to exact political retribution against her for Trump, this time accusing her of insurance fraud, which opponents point out is a strikingly wasteful use of taxpayer dollars and even borders on pursuing false charges.
Pulte sent letters to prosecutors in Florida and Illinois this time, accusing James of falsifying information on her homeowner’s insurance applications, according to CBS News.
James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, told CBS the Trump administration is “abusing their power to pursue a vendetta against her by trying to rename, refile, and repeat baseless allegations.”
He added, “These desperate tactics will fail — just as every previous attempt has failed — and exposes an Administration that has abandoned its responsibility to the American people in favor of petty political payback.”
Last fall a federal court dismissed charges Trump brought against James accusing her of bank fraud and making false statements to banks about a property in Virginia.
James led the successful civil prosecution of Trump before he won a second term in office for lying about the worth of his New York real estate properties. The president was found liable for fraud, CBS reported, and ordered to pay a multi-million dollar settlement, which an appellate court later threw out.
