Pulte’s two-month interim tenure drew GOP criticism over credentials
Pulte said in a social media post on Saturday that he had spoken with both Trump and Clayton about the handover. Clayton, formerly the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, will become the permanent director overseeing the U.S. intelligence community.
Trump selected Pulte as an interim director following Gabbard’s resignation, but the choice drew criticism from within the president’s own party. Republican lawmakers said the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency lacked the national security background appropriate for leading the nation’s intelligence apparatus.
The GOP-led Senate had hoped to confirm Clayton as early as June, but the president delayed his hearing. Clayton was eventually confirmed on Tuesday on a party-line vote.
During Pulte’s brief tenure at the intelligence community’s helm, Trump delivered a White House speech in which he reiterated his claims about the 2020 election and released classified documents that he said were relevant to his arguments.