- United States President Donald Trump has named his outspoken loyalist, Bill Pulte, as the new acting Director of National Intelligence.
- The 38-year-old appointee lacks any formal national security experience and will concurrently retain his major federal housing and mortgage policy roles.
- Pulte directly replaces Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down in late May following apparent policy disagreements with the president regarding military escalation.
United States President Donald Trump has appointed a staunch political loyalist with no previous national security or intelligence experience to head the country’s intelligence community.
Making the announcement on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, Eko Hot Blog reports that President Trump named Bill Pulte as the new acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
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In an unconventional administrative arrangement, the President confirmed that Pulte will simultaneously retain his current responsibilities overseeing key federal housing and mortgage policies.
This includes keeping his active roles as the chief of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and leader of the state-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The 38-year-old heir to a prominent home-building fortune steps into the top intelligence position to replace Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard, whose initial selection had also generated political debate, officially resigned from the office in late May following a brief, strained tenure during which she appeared to be at cross-purposes with President Trump over his military stance against Iran.
Defending his choice online, Trump asserted that Pulte possesses deep experience managing highly sensitive American matters, explicitly pointing to his oversight of the safety and soundness of the financial markets.
Pulte’s aggressive style and vocal defense of the president have led parts of the United States media to describe him as Trump’s political “attack dog”.
He has regularly drawn headlines for publicly attacking the administration’s political rivals, including accusing Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James of falsifying mortgage application data.
This has exposed him to intense scrutiny, including reports by the Wall Street Journal that an internal complaint at Fannie Mae accused Pulte of improperly accessing the personal mortgage records of James and other prominent Democratic officials.
Pulte has also championed a high-stakes mortgage fraud case against US Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, a legal battle that Trump used to attempt to dismiss the monetary policymaker, which currently sits before the US Supreme Court.
Beyond his legal and political feuds, Pulte is a highly polarizing figure even within internal conservative circles. Since taking over housing finance, he has fired internal ethics watchdogs who were investigating his close allies, dismissals he publicly defended as an effort to dismantle Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies at Fannie Mae.
Furthermore, his policy advocacy for the introduction of a 50-year mortgage option has deeply angered elements of the broader MAGA movement.
His combative approach has reportedly extended to Trump’s inner circle; reports highlight that in 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to physically assault Pulte during an altercation at a private club dinner.
Pulte also remains estranged from his own family over control of the PulteGroup corporation, whose board he left in 2020.
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