Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, reportedly discussed an AI-generated image of Donald Trump depicted as Jesus Christ with the president before it was posted on Truth Social. The 37-year-old official allegedly showed the image to Trump while the two were together in South Florida over the weekend.
According to Axios, two advisers who spoke with the president said Pulte, who is a member of the Mar-a-Lago club, may have been the one to show him the image. However, the exact details are unclear; some sources say he pulled it up on his phone, while others say he did not share the image with Trump at all. One adviser said, “Everyone thought it was a joke.”
The AI-generated image showed the 79-year-old president wearing a robe and appearing to heal a sick man with glowing hands. The post was deleted on Monday, but Trump later defended it, saying during a McDonald’s delivery to the Oval Office, “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better,” and adding, “I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor – it had to do with Red Cross, there’s a Red Cross worker there, which we support.”
Pulte has been a quiet but disruptive force inside the Trump administration for months
This is not the first time Pulte has caused friction within the administration. He has been described as a source of behind-the-scenes chaos who frequently irritates fellow officials. Tensions reportedly came to a head at a MAGA dinner in September, where Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to punch the housing official “in the f—ing face” and suggested they go outside so he could “f—ing beat [his] a–.”
Meanwhile, Trump has been dealing with other pressing issues at his Florida estate, including an unexpected wildlife encounter at Mar-a-Lago that made headlines recently. Pulte has also been active on federal policy and personnel matters.
Before Trump posted an image of him as a Christ-like healer, he discussed the meme with his controversial housing finance chief Bill Pulte
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) April 16, 2026
Two sources say Pulte shared the meme w/POTUS. Another says that’s false.
He refused to comment https://t.co/kqlezgLmdG
He has played a key role in fueling the president’s anger toward Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, including pushing Congress to investigate the Fed chief for what he calls “political bias” and “deceptive Senate testimony.” He was also behind the administration’s proposal for 50-year mortgages, an idea that was quickly dropped after it faced heavy criticism.
The image drew sharp backlash from several sides, including from within Trump’s own base. MAGA influencer Brilyn Hollyhand, 19, called the image “gross blasphemy.” Trump pushed back against the religious interpretation, saying, “Only the fake news could come up with that one,” and asking, “How did they come up with that?”
Despite the criticism, Trump continued in the same direction on Wednesday morning by posting another image that appeared to show him standing alongside Jesus. He captioned it, “The Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!!”
All of this comes as Trump navigates several major foreign policy challenges, with reports suggesting he is working toward a peace agreement with Iran that could define a significant part of his presidency. The episode points to the quiet but significant influence that figures like Pulte have on what the president posts online, and the political fallout that tends to follow.
