President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his decision to appoint a millennial heir to a homebuilding fortune with zero national security experience as temporary Director of National Intelligence and said the agency will be gutted to the bare minimum before he nominates a permanent replacement for outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard.
Gabbard, the ex-Hawaii House Democrat who is resigning to care for her husband while he is treated for bone cancer, was set to depart the administration at the end of June. But in a Truth Social post, Trump said her interim replacement, Federal Housing Finance Administrator Bill Pulte, would start as acting intel chief on June 19 with orders “to execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office” by “reverting staff to their home agencies.”
