This office is really what people should be paying attention to in the coming months, because it’s all about the midterms.
For those who are unaware, Bill Pulte is a MAGA loyalist that goes after Trump opponents, and has ZERO knowledge of or experience in national security. As the head of Federal Housing Finance Agency, he is the guy who has been accusing those legitimately investigating Trump (Letitia James, Adam Schiff, etc) of unsubstantiated mortgage fraud.
Expect him to do the same with the ODNI.
When Tulsi Gabbard resigned (or was fired, who knows) another candidate to replace her as DNI was put forward, the Rs and the Ds agreed on him for the most part, and that confirmation hearing was supposed to have happened on Wednesday. It did not. It was canceled at the last second by Trump, allowing Pulte to become “acting” DNI.
While an “acting” DNI has time limits on how long they can “act” without confirmation, that legal end to the “acting” role of DNI comes after the midterms, so this essentially puts Trump’s personal bully in the office for the duration of the election season.
The consensus is that Bill Pulte is being chosen as DNI for the sole reason of being able to leverage that surveillance against non-favored candidates in the midterms.
Think about that for a hot second. All the surveillance powers of the Five Eyes leveraged against US political candidates that the orange administration doesn’t like.
And now we see there’s actually a second reason for Pulte’s installation: to suppress facts gathered about our voting machines.
Just one more reason why Bill Pulte has been pushed into this position as “acting” DNI by Trump past unusually strong bipartisan opposition, to the point of canceling the nomination hearing for the real candidate.
This office is really what people should be paying attention to in the coming months, because it’s all about the midterms.
For those who are unaware, Bill Pulte is a MAGA loyalist that goes after Trump opponents, and has ZERO knowledge of or experience in national security. As the head of Federal Housing Finance Agency, he is the guy who has been accusing those legitimately investigating Trump (Letitia James, Adam Schiff, etc) of unsubstantiated mortgage fraud.
Expect him to do the same with the ODNI.
When Tulsi Gabbard resigned (or was fired, who knows) another candidate to replace her as DNI was put forward, the Rs and the Ds agreed on him for the most part, and that confirmation hearing was supposed to have happened on Wednesday. It did not. It was canceled at the last second by Trump, allowing Pulte to become “acting” DNI.
While an “acting” DNI has time limits on how long they can “act” without confirmation, that legal end to the “acting” role of DNI comes after the midterms, so this essentially puts Trump’s personal bully in the office for the duration of the election season.
Even the Republicans don’t want Pulte, and with the Dems they also refused to renew a part of FISA in objection, because the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has access to all the surveillance tools and output this country ever got its hands on.
The consensus is that Bill Pulte is being chosen as DNI for the sole reason of being able to leverage that surveillance against non-favored candidates in the midterms.
Think about that for a hot second. All the surveillance powers of the Five Eyes leveraged against US political candidates that the orange administration doesn’t like.
And now we see there’s actually a second reason for Pulte’s installation: to suppress facts gathered about our voting machines.
EDITED for clarity