WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Trump announced he is appointing Bill Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director who weaponized the federal mortgage system to fabricate fraud charges against Trump’s political enemies, to serve as acting Director of National Intelligence.
In response, co-chairs of the Not Above the Law coalition issued the following statement:
“This appointment is a reward, and has nothing to do with qualifications. At FHFA, Bill Pulte did one thing: hunt Trump’s perceived enemies. He ginned up mortgage fraud allegations against sitting officials, which federal investigators found baseless, and weaponized a housing regulator to punish those who tried to hold Trump accountable.
“If past is prologue, he will now do the same with the vast resources of the U.S. intelligence community. The agencies built to protect Americans, including our troops at home and abroad, will be turned into instruments of political retribution, betraying the men and women who serve those agencies and every American whose safety depends on them.
“Trump doesn’t staff his government with people who uphold the law. He installs people willing to break it for him, and now he’s handing one of them the keys to our nation’s most sensitive information.”
—Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizen; Praveen Fernandes, Constitutional Accountability Center; Kelsey Herbert, MoveOn; Brett Edkins, Stand Up America
For questions about our work to hold Trump accountable or to request an interview with a Not Above the Law coalition leader, please email press@focalpointstrategygroup.com.