Trump appoints Bill Pulte as acting intelligence chief while keeping housing posts

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Tuesday named Bill Pulte, a close political ally with no national security background, as acting director of national intelligence while also keeping him in his current roles overseeing federal housing and mortgage policy.

Pulte, who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, will replace Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard resigned in late May after a tenure in which she appeared to differ with Trump over his Iran policy.

The director of national intelligence leads the US intelligence community and serves as the president’s principal adviser on intelligence matters. The law requires the officeholder to have extensive national security expertise, which Pulte does not have.

Trump announced the appointment in a social media post, praising Pulte’s record and saying he "has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets"

The president also said Pulte would continue in his housing-related positions, including oversight of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Political profile and past controversies

Pulte, 38, has been described by some US media outlets as Trump’s attack dog because of his public attacks on the president’s political opponents.

He has accused Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James of falsifying information on mortgage applications. The Wall Street Journal also reported, citing an internal Fannie Mae complaint, that Pulte improperly accessed mortgage records belonging to James and other Democratic officials.

The same report said a federal grand jury indicted James in October, but that case was dismissed without prejudice by a federal judge a month later, leaving open the possibility that charges could be brought again.

Pulte has also supported a mortgage fraud case against US Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Trump relied on that case in an attempt to remove the central bank official, and that the matter is now pending before the Supreme Court.