Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, speaking on CNBC on Jan. 8, 2026.
CNBC
It is reported that President Donald Trump said on Friday that he wants Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to “begin the process” of firing a large number of employees from the DNI office.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump, in an interview, said the shooting would be part of a shake-up of the US intelligence community. The DNI office oversees 18 US intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency.
Trump’s comments are sure to further galvanize members of Congress, including Republican senators, who have already criticized President Pulte’s nomination earlier this week to replace outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard as acting.
Trump said Thursday that Pulte “will not be forever” in the role.
Trump, while flying on Air Force One to Wisconsin on Friday, was asked by reporters about the DNI’s permanent residency.
“I have five interviews, and we will have a very good person watching things,” he said.
Pulte, who has no intelligence agency experience, will continue to serve as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency until Trump nominates a replacement for DNI.
Trump told Pulte he believed the DNI office was “too unnecessary and too big,” the Journal reported Friday, citing the president’s description of that conversation.
“‘I would like to see it less. I think there are a lot of people where they shouldn’t be,’ Trump said, pointing to the bills from the Biden and Obama administrations,” the newspaper reported.
When Trump re-entered the White House for a second term in January 2025, the DNI office had about 1,800 employees, according to the Federal News Network.
After being confirmed by the Senate as DNI, Gabbard cut about 30% of the office’s staff, the office said in a fact sheet issued in August 2025, detailing his plans for further reductions in the number of officers.
Trump told the Journal that he wants Pulte to “begin the process” of reducing the staff of the DNI office, and that the DNI’s successor should continue that effort.
While Pulte’s apparent lack of experience with the DNI has been a major cause of concern for critics of his nomination, another factor has been his aggressiveness in targeting people who have offended Trump.
Pulte last year pleaded guilty to fraud for allegedly defrauding New York Attorney General Letitia James and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
A Virginia federal court case against James over alleged mortgage fraud was dismissed last year by a judge who ruled that U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, was illegally appointed.
James has denied wrongdoing and said he was targeted because he successfully sued Trump in New York state court for corporate fraud.
Trump last summer sought to fire Cook, citing Pulte’s allegations, which he denied. Cook, who angered Trump by refusing to vote for the interest rate cuts he wanted, remains at the Fed awaiting a Supreme Court decision on whether the president can fire him for cause.
