Trump Says Housing Chief Pulte Won’t Be Permanent Intelligence Director, as GOP Senators Deliver Rare Rebuke

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte will only remain director of national intelligence temporarily, President Donald Trump said, after bipartisan pushback to his appointment this week.

Speaking at the White House Thursday, Trump said Pulte's role coordinating the nation's intelligence-gathering agencies, while remaining its chief mortgage regulator, would be temporary. He also seemed to quash the idea that he would nominate Pulte for that role permanently.

"It's an acting position; he's not going to be permanent, because, you know, I don't think he'd want to be permanent," Trump said. "But he's a very smart guy, and he might find out some things about the rigged elections, etc. etc. I think he wants to do it very much."

"Again, it's not a permanent position, we're looking at—we're interviewing people right now," Trump continued. "But it's somebody just to take it over for a little while."

Shortly after Trump's remarks, three Republican senators broke ranks and voted in support of a Democratic measure to bar Pulte from serving even temporarily as DNI, signaling growing opposition even within the GOP.

Trump announced the appointment of Pulte Tuesday. Confirmed to his current role early in 2025, Pulte also oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He will remain in both roles, Trump said earlier this week. The 38-year-old grandson of homebuilder William Pulte doesn't have direct national security experience.

The move caught many in Washington by surprise and led to blowback from quite a few prominent Republicans. Pulte replaces Tulsi Gabbard, who announced she would step down June 30.

Pulte's position has major implications for the Trump administration's housing plans. That includes its enlarging of Fannie and Freddie's balance sheets in order to shore up the housing market. It also includes a prospective IPO for Fannie and Freddie.

Republicans deal rebuke

In order to be named to the DNI role permanently, Pulte would need to be approved by Congress. A number of Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), already publicly said they would oppose if allowed to vote.

Internal opposition grew Thursday night as three Republican senators backed a measure to bar Pulte from even serving in the role temporarily.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia), ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, overseeing the agencies, inserted the amendment to the budget reconciliation package. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted with Democrats and supported the amendment. It still failed by a vote of 49-49.

Democrats have been widely critical of Pulte in his leadership of FHFA. Especially as he pushed investigations of Fed board member Lisa Cook and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) related to mortgage fraud. (Neither has yet led to any criminal charges.) He's also been critical of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump publicly feuded with for perceived slowness to lower mortgage rates.

Warner called the nomination "insulting" given Pulte's history of leading investigations on Trump's behalf. He said he feared the politicization of intelligence information to go after Trump's political enemies.

"Mr. Pulte has absolutely no intelligence background, he has no national security background," Warner said. "What he does have is a record of manipulating public information."

Staying the course

Still, Trump appeared to hold the line on naming Pulte as acting DNI, in addition to keeping him in the FHFA role.

"He's very smart, he's a person who's got high integrity, he's done a phenomenal job at Fannie Mae Freddie Mac," Trump said at the White House.

Asked if he felt Pulte had the right national security experience, Trump said he did think so.

"I think he does, actually, because he's smart," Trump said.

Pulte hasn't commented. A prolific user of the social media site X, he has boosted comments from a number of Republicans who do support his nomination.