Four days after Jay Clayton was confirmed by the US Senate to become the next Director of National Intelligence, Democrats are openly fuming over the continued presence of Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte as the interim director.
Pulte was appointed by President Trump to fill the gap left when Tulsi Gabbard resigned her directorship in June. No date was announced for Clayton’s formal assumption of his new job, which defies Washington tradition of newly confirmed officials being sworn in almost immediately.
The Hill reports the continued presence of Pulte has irritated Senate Democrats – none of whom voted for Clayton’s confirmation.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the Ranking Member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, declared the delay in swearing in Clayton “amazing … in a horrible way. It’s baffling.”
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), another member of the Intelligence Committee, complained that “Bill Pulte should go back to whatever he was doing in housing. It’s usually immediate. So what’s going on? So I think we can have that FISA discussion when Clayton is actually the DNI in the office, and the other guy, the temporary — the temp — is gone.”
“Spectacularly bizarre,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) about Pulte maintaining the directorship.
“I’ve never heard anybody doing such a thing. I mean, that’s the way it is with these guys,” Wyden added, referring to the Trump administration.
Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats, added, “It’s a terrible idea. His successor has been confirmed. There’s no earthly reason he should stay there another five minutes. You can only interpret this as some kind of mischief. There’s no substantive intelligence reason he should stay there, particularly again since his successor has been confirmed.”
One Republican, Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, was more polite but equally firm that Clayton should be sworn in sooner rather than later.
“I’m ready for Jay to be sworn in,” he stated. “Nothing opposed to Bill on that, but we got a permanent guy. I like having a permanent guy in the position. Once it’s confirmed, let’s get him in the chair because there’s some decisions that can only be made by the actual Senate-confirmed individual.”
Earlier this week, Politico reported that Pulte was lobbying Trump to stay longer in the intelligence director’s role. Pulte, who did not offer public congratulations to Clayton on his confirmation, stated on X that he had a meeting with the National Counterterrorism Center on Wednesday.
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