00:00And President Trump has just announced he is tapping Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as
00:08the acting director of national intelligence.
00:11Trump posted on social media Tuesday that Pulte would also remain in his role as FHFA director and as chairman
00:18of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
00:20Tulsi Gabbard has announced that she would step down from her role as director of national intelligence just this month.
00:26Let's get to Bloomberg Washington correspondent Tyler Kendall.
00:29Tyler, so what do we know about Bill Pulte's experience in the intelligence industry?
00:34What does he bring to the table for President Trump?
00:38Well, Matt, at this point, there's a lot of big questions here about exactly why President Trump made this announcement
00:44and why at this moment, though, of course, it does follow.
00:47As you mentioned, Tulsi Gabbard giving her resignation in for DNI.
00:51President Trump saying that Bill Pulte will remain as the head of the FHFA.
00:54But keep in mind that an acting position means that he doesn't need to be Senate confirmed.
00:59So perhaps it's unclear if we'll get total answers around what his experience in this particular area does look like.
01:09Pulte is, of course, a very staunch ally of this White House.
01:13We have become very familiar with him because he has led some of the administration's staunchest criticism when it comes
01:18to the Federal Reserve and also led that probe that we are still waiting to see resolved when it comes
01:24to alleged allegations of mortgage fraud by Fed Governor Lisa Cook.
01:28Bloomberg News had reported back in November that Bill Pulte was originally passed over for some tops posts at the
01:35Department of Housing and Urban Development before ultimately being tapped for this FHFA position that he currently leads.
01:42But President Trump, in this post on True Social, really applauding Bill Pulte, calling him this this loyal ally and
01:49saying, in part, quote, that he has been managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of
01:55the markets and over 10 trillion dollars at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
02:00So we'll see how this dovetails into the president's national security priorities, because, of course, there is now this hole
02:06with Tulsi Gabbard leaving the administration.
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