US president keeps loyalist William Pulte as acting intelligence chief, demands passage of voter ID law
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday cancelled the Senate confirmation hearing for his nominee for director of national intelligence in a tactical maneuver to pressure lawmakers over surveillance and election laws.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton would not proceed until Jamie McDonald is approved to succeed him as US attorney for the Southern District of New York.
The move would keep William Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, in the acting intelligence post after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard steps down later this month.
The nomination of Pulte, a Trump loyalist with no intelligence or national security experience, has triggered pushback from lawmakers in both parties.
Trump said Republicans had agreed to remove Pulte as acting director of national intelligence (DNI) as part of an understanding tied to the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), but accused Democrats of failing to uphold their side of the arrangement.
"The Republicans agreed with Dumocrats to remove very fair, and talented, William Pulte, from serving as Acting DNI in return for getting FISA approved by the Dumocrats," Trump wrote. “Now, the Dumocrats are saying they will vote against FISA — So, the Republicans wound up having fulfilled their commitment, but Dumocrats broke the Deal."
FISA, which governs certain US national security surveillance activities, expired last Friday.
Trump also linked any future reauthorization of the law to passage of the Save America Act, legislation focused on voter identification and proof-of-citizenship requirements.
“I will not approve FISA without the Save America Act going along with it,” he said.
.jpg.jpeg)