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Bill Pulte may be out of a job, but he hasn’t walked out the door.
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Jay Clayton to be the new director of national intelligence (DNI), replacing Pulte in a role President Trump said he would only be in temporarily.
But the White House has bucked the practice of swiftly swearing in the newly confirmed official within hours of their vote, leaving Clayton waiting for several days.
The move has incensed Democrats and confused Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee who say it’s simply time for Pulte to go and return to his existing role as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
“Spectacularly bizarre,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said when asked about the situation.
“I’ve never heard anybody doing such a thing. I mean, that’s the way it is with these guys,” he said of the Trump administration, adding the situation defies “logic.”
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the situation “amazing” before clarifying, “in a horrible way.”
“It’s baffling,” he said.
At numerous steps along the way, Trump has aided Pulte, who at FHFA recommended criminal prosecution of four Trump foes for mortgage fraud, in settling into the role.
Pulte was tapped to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on an acting basis, but the pick was so unpopular among Senate Republicans and Democrats alike, that Trump clarified he would only be there short term.
He added, however, that he hoped the temporary assignment would mean Pulte would be “less shackled” and shake up the agency that oversees coordination among the intelligence community by carrying out widespread firings.
The chamber attempted to move at warp speed to confirm Clayton – initially attempting to move him the week he was nominated – but Trump stalled the process there as well, ordering the nominee not to appear for his own hearing.
Many Senate-confirmed nominees are sworn in the very same day that the upper chamber approves them for the role.
The same day Clayton was set to be voted on, Pulte announced via X that he had completed a fifth round of layoffs at ODNI carried out over his roughly 40 days at the agency.
“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.”
The White House did not respond to request for comment about why Pulte was still in the role and why Clayton has not yet been sworn in.
While Republicans didn’t knock Pulte, many made clear they were eager for Clayton to be in place.
“I’m ready for Jay to be sworn in. 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,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.).
Also tangled with Pulte is the ability to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to spy on foreigners located abroad.
Democrats refused to renew the important spy tool while Pulte was still in office, another aspect in the prior push to speed Clayton through Congress as quickly as possible.
The Senate has just one more week in session to take up its FISA 702 bill.
“Jay Clayton is the right guy for the job. The sooner we can get him in, the better off we are, and the sooner we can get back to getting the additional legislation completed that we need. FISA 702 needs to be put back in place as quickly as possible,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).
“We’ve done our part of it, and he is the right guy for the job. The president picked an excellent DNI, and the sooner we can get him in, the better off we are.”
Pulte, through his X account, signaled he is still at work at ODNI.
On Wednesday he shared that he had a meeting with the National Counterterrorism Center.
It was one of his few posts since taking the job on June 19 that didn’t involve an announcement about layoffs or sharing recently declassified documents.
“Our Team at NCTC keeps Americans safe, does an incredible job, and is filled with hard working American Patriots. Each time I meet with NCTC, I am beyond impressed!” he wrote.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), another member of the panel, said it was time for “the temp” to move on, freeing Clayton to begin his work and leaving the Senate to tackle FISA.
“I saw something this morning that said he doesn’t want to go. He needs more time. There is now a Senate-confirmed nominee who should get sworn in today and put in the job today, and Bill Pulte should go back to whatever he was doing in housing,” Kelly said.
“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.”
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