President Donald Trump’s selection of Bill Pulte for acting director of national intelligence has received stern backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle, as well as leaders in the mortgage industry who have ridiculed the pick on social media.
Pulte — the Senate-confirmed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), who also chairs the boards of directors for the FHFA’s regulated entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — was named acting director of national intelligence (DNI) in a Tuesday morning post on Truth Social by Trump.
The president said that Pulte would retain his role at the FHFA, as well as his roles as chairman on the individual boards of directors for Fannie and Freddie, the government-run mortgage giants.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., described Pulte as an “incendiary attack dog” on Wednesday during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” program — while describing himself as “tired of amateur hour.”
When asked how Pulte could serve in his existing roles and take on the new one, Tillis replied: “You don’t. To be honest with you, how do you do a job you have no qualifications for?” He added that the promotion could risk Congress’ ongoing attempts to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The FHFA has not released any information about how Pulte’s new role at White House intelligence chief might impact its operations and has not returned requests for information on the matter. Pulte has no reported background in intelligence or experience in matters of national security.
GOP Senators rebuke Pulte selection
“Whoever told the president to go ahead and commit to this publicly before vetting it should lose their jobs, because they should know that the math just works against Pulte being confirmed,” Tillis stated, noting that Pulte may not even have a path to make it through Senate committee hearings.
Other Republican senators also harshly rebuked the selection of Pulte to oversee the U.S. intelligence community, which has occurred while the U.S. is engaged in an ongoing war with Iran.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., was asked about Pulte’s role in bringing allegations of mortgage fraud against perceived political opponents of the president, including Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“We don’t need a weaponized DNI,” said Thune. “We need professionals there.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., drew specific attention to the “extensive national security experience” that is required by statute of any candidate tapped to serve as White House intelligence chief. He noted in reporting by The Hill that “very few Senate-confirmed positions” carry such statutory eligibility requirements.
“Anyone performing this role of such immense public trust must have the extensive national security experience required by statute, and no nominee who falls short of this requirement will earn my vote,” said McConnell.
The Hill also reported that Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he sees in Pulte “no evidence of any qualifications for that job”. Republican Senators Bill Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins have also questioned the selection.
Mortgage industry reaction
Many mortgage industry experts questioned the move.
Greg Sher, managing director at NFM Lending, told Scotsman Guide he’s “in the wait and see camp.”
“Qualified or not, when the president of the United States calls on you to serve the country, you do it. So far, that’s all he’s done is say ‘yes,’” Sher said.
Sher continued: “As far as the mortgage industry is concerned, he single-handedly pushed through substantial change in the credit space, and he deserves high marks for that. I’m not interested in dissecting tactics or tweets — I’m looking at actions and those led to progress in one of the most important areas impacting the cost to consumers (credit).”
On LinkedIn, the reactions ranged from incredulous to contemplative to joking.
Jennifer McGuinness-Lubbert, CEO of Pivot Financial, posted: “Could this mean Pulte could be leaving FHFA and we could get a new Director? Possibly. If this were to occur is that positive or negative for housing?”
She added: “Here’s what I do know, you can’t run both organizations part time!”
Anthony Hutchison, a senior business lending development consultant at Wells Fargo, wrote: “Housing in the U.S. needs full attention. Bottom line. Housing drives so many other industries.”
Peter Conti-Brown, associate professor of financial regulation at The Wharton School, commented: “Republicans of conscience should be (and, from what I am hearing, indeed are) deeply troubled by the appointment of Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence.”
Rich Swerbinsky, founder of mortgage advisory firm Onward & Upward Consulting: “Pulte’s qualifications for running 18 intelligence agencies include: zero military service, zero intelligence work, zero national security background, one great-grandfather who built houses, and approximately 14,000 tweets about credit scores.”
Shari Dunn, author of “Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work”, echoed remarks underscored by Sen. McConnell in pointing out the statutory eligibility requirements of any DNI nomination.
“The law that created the Director of National Intelligence position says, in plain words, that ‘anyone nominated for the post shall have extensive national security expertise’ (50 U.S.C. § 3023),” said Dunn. “Bill Pulte does not. So why have we handed the keys to a 747 to a man whose only experience is sitting in first class?”
