President Donald Trump on Wednesday doubled down on his choice of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, despite bipartisan opposition over the selection that could result in a crackdown on a foreign surveillance program this week with major national security implications.
Earlier this month, Trump tapped Pulte, who leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and has used his position to launch a series of investigations into several of the president’s political opponents over allegations of mortgage-related wrongdoing.
The move drew sharp criticism from both sides of the aisle and calls for Trump to drop his choice of Pulte or quickly find a permanent replacement for the role. It also raised the possibility that Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to collect communications of people outside the US, including how they interact with Americans, would expire at the end of the week as Democrats vowed to withdraw their support.
“It’s not my side’s fault. Frankly, it’s not the Republican senators’ fault,” Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told reporters on Wednesday. “If 702 goes dark this administration, this President, seizes upon it, throwing a live grenade into a controversial bill that was on its way to a three-year reauthorization.”
Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., said of Pulte on Capitol Hill, “I can’t think of a more incompetent, inept, dangerous person to be acting DNI.”
Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, speaks on CNBC on January 8, 2026.
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But Trump was apparently unconcerned by this and was attacking the Democrats. Post on TruthSocial and called for a short-term extension of the program.
“Just as they did on border funding, the radical left is trying to hold our national security hostage over unrelated issues. They must stop playing politics with the security of our great country,” Trump posted Wednesday.
In the post, Trump said he is looking for a permanent DNI nominee, but in the meantime Pulte will take office on June 19. Trump said he had asked Pulte to “make immediate and necessary downsizing of the office, returning employees to their domestic agencies.”
On Wednesday, Senate leaders from both parties were considering another short-term extension. The proposal would extend the program until July 2, MS Now reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
The FISA program has critics on both sides of the aisle, who are concerned that it could lead to surveillance of American citizens. Meanwhile, supporters argue it is a vital national security tool that is even more important as the US conflict with Iran continues and the FIFA Men’s World Cup begins this week with games in the US, Canada and Mexico.
“FISA 702 is vital to our military and keeping the American people safe, especially during the World Cup and America250 celebrations,” Trump wrote in Wednesday’s post. “If nothing is done, this important legislation will expire this week. I am asking Congress to send a short-term extension of FISA to provide time for the selection and confirmation of a permanent head of the agency. I want to thank Director Pulte for his time and commitment.”
Trump has called for a clear expansion of the program, while many in Congress want restrictions on the law’s warrantless surveillance provisions.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tennessee, said passage without additional language on the warrant would be “very difficult.”
“If you don’t have a search warrant … I think that would be problematic for a lot of people,” Burchett said.
“President Trump is the master of this deal, so we’ll just see what he puts on the table and how he executes it, but right now I don’t think it’s got a very good chance.”
The Senate had been working toward a three-year extension of the program, but following Pulte’s announcement last week, Seven Republicans join most Democrats To defeat a procedural motion that would have required a vote on final passage of the FISA bill this week. Previous attempts to pass a multi-year extension this spring also failed, resulting in a 45-day extension that was signed into law in April.
Without Congressional intervention, the program will expire on June 12. Warner said he is continuing to work with Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on a solution. But he wasn’t sure there would be votes for a short-term patch.
Republicans have also publicly questioned Trump’s choice of Pulte.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R.S.D. “We don’t need an armed DNI, we need professionals there,” Trump told reporters on Capitol Hill last week.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is retiring at the end of this Congress and has regularly taken aim at Trump administration officials, called Pulte an “incendiary attack dog” in an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” last week.
And Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who is retiring at the end of his term, called on Trump to reconsider his selection. post on x On Monday.
Bacon wrote, “FISA gives us more than 50% of our sensitive intelligence and has enabled the United States to prevent many terrorist attacks.” “Letting FISA lapse would reflect a nation crippled by excessive partisanship and dysfunction. POTUS can help by canceling plans to keep Bill Pulte as acting DNI.”
—emily wilkins And Irit Skulnik contributed to this story.
