President Trump on Tuesday stood by his decision to have Bill Pulte, a close political ally with no known national security experience, replace Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence, saying that he would take over the post in an acting capacity on June 19.
Mr. Trump also said Mr. Pulte would continue to lead a federal housing agency in addition to his new duties.
The selection of Mr. Pulte, a loyalist who has pursued Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies, to replace Ms. Gabbard had triggered worries from some Republicans and drew sharp criticism from Democrats in the Senate, imperiling a vote on a key government surveillance law.
But Mr. Trump’s statement Tuesday made clear his intent to dismiss the political pushback and forge ahead with Mr. Pulte, even as he has suggested that Mr. Pulte might use the temporary appointment as an opportunity to purge the office of perceived political opponents.
Mr. Pulte has previously used his role as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency as a perch to carry out a campaign of retribution on behalf of the president. Last week, Mr. Trump proposed that Mr. Pulte conduct mass firings of employees at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, including those who worked for previous Democratic presidents, suggesting that Mr. Pulte would be “less shackled” by the constraints of being the president’s choice to lead the agency permanently.
Mr. Trump also said last week that he wanted Mr. Pulte to look into “rigged elections.” Mr. Trump has long repeated the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite his own administration saying at the time that there was no widespread election fraud affecting the outcome.
The president has also long been deeply skeptical of the intelligence community, primarily because of the investigation into whether his 2016 campaign conspired with Russians who, officials have repeatedly said, interfered in the presidential election that year to harm Mr. Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Mr. Trump has said that Mr. Pulte will not be nominated for confirmation by the Senate to lead the agency permanently. Since Mr. Pulte has already been confirmed by the Senate for his current role, he can serve in the new position for 210 days.
Senate Democrats have revolted in response to Mr. Pulte’s selection, moving to block the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a warrantless wiretapping law that is set to expire on Friday. A group of Democrats had been working with Republicans on a measure to extend the surveillance authority for three years, but their anger over Mr. Pulte’s new role prompted an almost unanimous retreat from that proposal.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said that Mr. Pulte was “working closely” with Ms. Gabbard, and that he would continue to lead the federal housing finance agency in addition to his duties as director of national intelligence. That move will almost certainly trigger outrage from Democrats, deepen the Senate stalemate over the surveillance law and do little to assuage the concerns of Republicans who worry about the office that oversees the intelligence community being used as a weapon.
Mr. Trump’s social media post signaled a dimming likelihood that Congress would renew a powerful spying authority known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before it is scheduled to lapse this weekend. Democrats on Capitol Hill last week met Mr. Trump’s selection of Mr. Pulte as acting spy chief with sharp opposition, with some vowing to refuse to extend the surveillance program — which was facing a tough road to renewal because of bipartisan privacy concerns — unless the president withdrew Mr. Pulte’s name.
Republicans have acknowledged that Mr. Pulte’s selection further complicates the fight over Section 702. Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, said on Tuesday that he was encouraging the White House to nominate a permanent director of national intelligence to quell Democratic opposition.
“Getting some certainty and closure on that issue about who that might be will certainly play an important role in unlocking the support we need to get FISA done,” Mr. Thune said.
Ms. Gabbard had previously said that she intended to resign from her post overseeing the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies on June 30. Mr. Trump had not set a date for Mr. Pulte to take over as acting director when he had initially announced his selection.
Dustin Volz contributed reporting.
