President Trump has tapped federal housing finance director Bill Pulte to be acting director of national intelligence to replace Tulsi Gabbard. As the AP reports, Trump made the surprise announcement Tuesday on Truth Social regarding Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chair of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Trump says Pulte "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 says Pulte will keep his other positions even as he fills in for Gabbard, who resigned last month after revealing her husband's cancer diagnosis. If formally nominated, Pulte would need to be confirmed by the Senate to hold the position full time. Pulte's current role involves ensuring the soundness of the mortgage market, but he morphed into a megaphone who has gone after the Republican president's perceived political foes. Pulte has mainly trained his sights on Trump's domestic rivals, going after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting the central bank's benchmark interest rates as aggressively as the president wanted. It's unclear what national security expertise Pulte has, but he has been a frequent guest on Air Force One as Trump has traveled to Mar-a-Lago. He has no experience in intelligence, notes CNBC.
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