President Trump appointed Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, elevating him with no national security experience amidst war and global tensions.
President Trump appoints Bill Pruitt as Director of National Intelligence
President Donald Trump has nominated Bill Pruitt, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to be his new acting director of national intelligence.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his acting spy director has broad authorization to declassify records, including those related to the 2020 election, even though his aides will only be at the helm of the intelligence community for a short time.
President Trump last month appointed Bill Pruitt as acting director of national intelligence, elevating a political ally with no national security experience in the midst of war and global tensions.
Following political backlash over his nomination, President Trump nominated Jay Clayton, the top U.S. attorney in Manhattan. But then he abruptly postponed Creighton’s confirmation hearing to force Congress to pass strict voter identification legislation.
“Bill will probably be there for about a month or two,” Trump told reporters as he departed from Joint Base Andrews to attend an event in North Dakota. “But while he was there, I said, ‘Declassify whatever you want.'”
Asked if it included records related to the 2020 election, Trump added: “I told him you can do it. That’s fair. You have to ask him.”
Trump, who won a second presidential term in the 2024 election after losing in 2020, has for years falsely claimed there was widespread fraud in U.S. elections, pushing debunked claims ahead of November’s midterm elections as part of a pressure campaign to pass stricter voter identification laws.
His comments came as NBC News reported that a White House task force is collecting some documents related to the 2020 election for declassification.
“As the most transparent president in history, President Trump is committed to sharing as much information as possible with the public,” said a White House official who requested anonymity.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the office of Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton did not respond to requests for comment on Trump’s comments.
ODNI oversees the U.S. intelligence community, which is made up of 18 government agencies, including the main foreign spy agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency, a giant agency that eavesdrops on foreign communications and protects the United States from cyberattacks.
It was unclear when lawmakers would act on Creighton’s nomination, but President Trump told reporters that a hearing would be held within two weeks.
Mr. Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, is “targeting” July 15, a person familiar with the situation said on condition of anonymity.
Mr. Pulte currently heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency and will remain as ODNI until Mr. Clayton is confirmed by the Senate. Mr. Prut has reportedly already moved to cut hundreds of intelligence jobs.
President Trump said the bill, known as the SAVE Act, would give his fellow Republicans a “guaranteed” victory in November as they seek to maintain their slim control of Congress. Democrats hope to take advantage of President Trump’s low approval ratings and take back at least the House or Senate.
Democrats and voting rights advocates say the measure could prevent millions of eligible Americans from registering to vote.
On Tuesday, President Trump said in a social media post that he had met with Tina Peters, a former Colorado county elections official who was convicted of illegally tampering with voting machines in pursuit of Trump’s false claims about the 2020 presidential election.
A representative for Peters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
