Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte walks outside the White House in Washington on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025.
Mark Schiefelbein | AP
President Donald Trump on Tuesday tapped Bill Pulte, who led the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to serve as acting director of national intelligence, putting the broader US intelligence community in the hands of a loyalist who has targeted the president’s enemies.
Trump’s current DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, announced last month that she would resign from the role effective June 30.
Pulte, who has no prior experience in an intelligence role, will keep his current titles as FHFA director and chairman of mortgage groups Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Trump wrote in a letter. satya social post Announcement of selection.
Trump had previously announced that Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lucas would take over as acting DNI following Gabbard’s departure.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for clarification on when Pulte’s tenure at DNI will begin and whether Lucas will remain in his current role.
“William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the markets, and over $10 trillion at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, significantly more than just 12 months ago,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
While at the helm of the normally low-profile housing regulatory agency, Pulte has stoked controversy by bringing allegations of mortgage-related wrongdoing against several of Trump’s political opponents.
Pulte last year filed a criminal referral against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook for mortgage fraud, in which Cook allegedly claimed two separate properties as her primary residence at the same time.
Trump, who has long urged the Fed to lower interest rates and often complains of the central bank’s refusal to act accordingly, attempted to fire Cook over the mortgage allegations.
Cook filed suit to stop his firing; His case is currently pending in the Supreme Court.
Pulte also submitted a criminal referral against New York Attorney General Letitia James on charges of falsifying bank documents and property records in connection with a home mortgage she obtained in 2020.
James was charged in October with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. In November, a federal judge dismissed her case, ruling that the interim US attorney who brought the indictment, former Trump lawyer Lindsay Halligan, was illegally appointed.
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