Trump Sticks With Pulte for Intel Job  06/11 06:23

   A lapse in a law that allows the U.S. to gather intelligence abroad grew 
more likely on Wednesday as President Donald Trump resisted calls from 
Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to immediately name a permanent head 
of the nation's intelligence agencies.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- A lapse in a law that allows the U.S. to gather 
intelligence abroad grew more likely on Wednesday as President Donald Trump 
resisted calls from Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to immediately 
name a permanent head of the nation's intelligence agencies.

   Trump has doubled down on his temporary pick for director of national 
intelligence, federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, even though he has 
little experience for the job. Democrats say they won't support the renewal of 
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, unless 
he withdraws Pulte's appointment and nominates a permanent replacement.

   The impasse could soon result in limitations on what intelligence the U.S. 
government can collect abroad just as World Cup games begin in cities around 
the country and ahead of celebrations for the nation's 250th anniversary. The 
law expires on Friday at midnight.

   Trump on Wednesday asked Congress for a short-term extension of the law to 
"provide time for the selection and confirmation" of a permanent director." But 
he stuck with Pulte as the acting head and said he wants to begin downsizing 
intelligence agencies.

   "We can't let them extort us," Trump said of Democrats.

   Senate Republicans floated an short-term extension of the law after Trump's 
request, but it was immediately rejected by Democrats who argued that it's up 
to the president to replace Pulte.

   As the bill stalled in the Senate, Speaker Mike Johnson announced the House 
would hold a vote Thursday on a stopgap to keep the program running through 
July 2 even as the chances of passage appeared slim.

   "We're going to ask every member here to do the right thing," Johnson said. 
"We cannot allow that to go dark."

   House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said if Trump wants a shot at a 
short-term extension, he needs to pull the Pulte appointment. Pulte is a 
"disgraceful individual" and a "partisan political hack" who is deeply 
unqualified for the job, Jeffries said.

   GOP leaders lobby the White House, to no avail

   Congressional Republicans have lobbied Trump all week to quickly nominate a 
permanent replacement. But he said he needs more time to do so.

   Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Wednesday that Republican 
leaders have "made our views known" to the White House about the easiest way to 
get the bill passed, and "we're just doing what we can here to ensure that the 
White House understands what will be necessary in order to make that happen."

   Trump said on Friday that he is interviewing five candidates for his pick to 
lead the agency permanently and that all have a national security background.

   "It's an important position and one that I think will be filled by a highly 
qualified person," said Johnson, who met with Trump twice this week to talk 
about the FISA impasse.

   Trump made it very clear, Johnson said, that Pulte will serve a "very short 
term -- a sort of renovation role" to help the Office of the Director of 
National Intelligence be "renovated and downsized."

   To unlock votes for FISA, the pick would have to be soon -- and Trump's 
choice would have to satisfy both Republicans and Democrats.

   One of several possible replacements could be Pete Hoekstra, Trump's 
ambassador to Canada and a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. 
The White House has reached out to Hoekstra about the job and conversations are 
ongoing, according to a person familiar with the outreach who requested 
anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

   FISA will lapse at midnight Friday

   Section 702 of FISA allows agencies such as the CIA, National Security 
Agency and FBI to collect communications from foreign targets overseas without 
a warrant.

   While members of both parties who cite privacy issues have long wanted to 
limit the authority, there was broad bipartisan support to renew it, especially 
after Republicans and Democrats recently worked out a compromise bill.

   Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence 
Committee, has worked with Republicans on the compromise legislation to renew 
the authority. But he called Pulte's appointment to replace outgoing DNI Tulsi 
Gabbard "a live hand grenade" as they were trying to pass it. Republican 
leaders tried to start the process last week, but seven Republicans joined 
nearly all Democrats in blocking a long-term extension after Pulte was 
appointed. (

   Warner said Wednesday that the only way he'll support a short-term extension 
of the surveillance law is if the principal deputy director of national 
intelligence, Aaron Lukas, is the acting leader during the duration of that 
extension.

   Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. 
Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have warned the 
administration that the spy tool is likely to lapse.

   The administration should prepare "for a potential significant gap in 
foreign intelligence collection," they wrote in a letter.

   Trump doesn't back down on Pulte

   After bipartisan pushback to Pulte's temporary appointment, Trump said last 
week that he would not permanently nominate him to the position. But Democrats, 
and some Republicans, want his appointment pulled immediately and for Trump to 
nominate a replacement that can be confirmed by the Senate.

   On Tuesday, though, Trump announced that Pulte would not only take over as 
acting director -- he'd also start earlier than expected, on June 19.

   And he stuck with Pulte on Wednesday, posting that he needed more time to 
find a permanent replacement and telling reporters that the agencies need to be 
downsized.

   Both Republican and Democratic senators skeptical of Pulte have pointed to 
his lack of intelligence experience and also his record at the Federal Housing 
Finance Agency. In the position, the Trump loyalist has been linked with 
criminal referrals over allegations of mortgage fraud by public officials Trump 
sought to punish, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, a 
Democrat; Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Lisa Cook, a board member of the 
Federal Reserve.