ODNI will start transition to Clayton on Monday, Pulte says

Administration ODNI will start transition to Clayton on Monday, Pulte says Comments: by Rebecca Beitsch - 08/03/26 11:02 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Rebecca Beitsch - 08/03/26 11:02 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte said over the weekend he would begin to transition away from the role amid questions over why he remains at the office leading the intelligence community.

President Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Jay Clayton, was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, but in a highly unusual move he was not immediately sworn in.

“After speaking with the President Trump and Jay Clayton, we have decided the DNI transition will take place this coming Monday. I am eternally grateful to President Trump for the opportunity to serve as Director of National Intelligence, while he completed historic declassifications and we right sized the ODNI,” Pulte wrote from his personal account on the social platform X, rather than a second account he used as acting intelligence director.

“I have no doubt that Jay will do a tremendous job. I have offered Jay my complete and total support as he transitions to take over this incredible agency!”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on what Pulte meant by a transition and whether Clayton would be sworn in Monday.

Typically a confirmed nominee would take over an agency as soon as they were formally sworn in.

Pulte while serving as acting intelligence director has remained the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, a role he used to forward criminal referrals on allegations of mortgage fraud for four different Trump foes.

In his little more than a month in office, he carried out five different rounds of layoffs. Trump had said that even if Pulte served as intelligence director temporarily, he hoped Pulte would be “less shackled.”

Senators on both sides of the aisle who reviewed Clayton’s nomination expressed surprise last week that Pulte had yet to leave his position.

“It’s a terrible idea. His successor has been confirmed. There’s no earthly reason he should stay there another five minutes,” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) told The Hill.

“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.”

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