President Donald Trump has appointed Bill Pulte, the current head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as the acting director of national intelligence after Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation.
The move, announced by Trump Tuesday, places a real estate scion and staunch Trump loyalist in a critical national security position, even as the U.S. remains engaged in conflict with Iran.
Former Hawaii congresswoman Gabbard resigned last month following the revelation of her husband’s cancer diagnosis.
Pulte is expected to retain his existing positions while serving as acting DNI. Trump cited Pulte's work at the FHFA and his leadership of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as evidence that his real estate background aligns with the skills needed to coordinate the 18 federal agencies responsible for foreign and domestic security.
"William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets," Trump posted on Truth Social. Trump’s decision to elevate Pulte, who will also continue his FHFA duties, underscores a perceived prioritization of loyalty.
It remains unclear what national security expertise Pulte brings to the table as the U.S. navigates ongoing conflict in the Middle East, supports Ukraine against Russia's aggression, and grapples with the rise of artificial intelligence as a military tool. Pulte has, however, been a frequent guest on Air Force One during Trump’s travels to Mar-a-Lago.
As the grandson of the founder of PulteGroup, one of the nation's largest homebuilders, Pulte has cultivated a combative presence on social media. He has leveraged his FHFA post to target individuals perceived as opponents of the Trump administration.
His tenure overseeing mortgage finance has been marked by criminal referrals for alleged mortgage fraud against public officials Trump sought to penalize, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat; Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve board member nominated by a Democratic president, Joe Biden.
The prosecution against James was dismissed in November after a judge determined the prosecutor who filed the charges was illegally appointed. Other referrals by Pulte, including those against Schiff and Cook, have not resulted in criminal charges, with lawyers for both denying any wrongdoing. Trump did, however, attempt to use the possibility of mortgage fraud as grounds to remove Cook from the Fed.
Pulte informed reporters at the White House several months ago that he had also made criminal referrals concerning at least one Republican official, though he declined to name them. He famously challenged then-Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting the central bank’s benchmark interest rates as aggressively as the president desired.
He has also been associated with concepts such as the 50-year mortgage and efforts to reduce mortgage rates through the purchase of home loan debt, initiatives that did not yield promised results as mortgage rates began to climb after the Iran war commenced at the end of February.
Pulte has a reputation for fostering animosity. In a legal dispute involving his family's homebuilding company, Pulte accused his grandfather’s widow of insider trading. He was reportedly the driving force behind a website disparaging an aunt as a "fake Christian" and publicly denounced another relative as "a fat slob," "weirdo," and "grifter," according to court records.
Politico reported in September that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to punch Pulte in the face. The confrontation occurred at a private dinner, with the treasury secretary claiming he had heard Pulte was speaking ill of him to Trump.
Should Pulte be formally nominated for the DNI position, he would require Senate confirmation to serve full-time.
