Sawt Falasteen - Trump urges new spy chief to fire employees

Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, was named by the Republican president on Tuesday as acting Director of National Intelligence.

"If he cut, I wouldn't mind that," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that the number of employees in Pulte's office had been "way too high for way too long."

Trump had earlier said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he wanted Pulte -- who will oversee the 18 sprawling US intelligence agencies -- to slash employee numbers.

"I'd like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn't be there," Trump told the newspaper, citing holdouts from the Biden and Obama administrations.

Democrats have condemned Pulte's appointment to replace Tulsi Gabbard as intel chief, pointing to the loyalist's history of weaponizing government records against Trump's opponents.

Trump has tried to quell the row, insisting that Pulte will only be in the job as a stopgap and saying on Friday that he had recently interviewed five people for the post.

But Trump told the WSJ that could also give Pulte leeway to gut the US intelligence community.

"You're less shackled," he told the newspaper. "It sort of gives you more power, you know, for a somewhat limited period of time."

Trump suggested on Thursday that Pulte would also investigate "rigged elections," doubling down on his unfounded claims about voting stemming from his 2021 election loss.

The Republican president previously deployed Gabbard, who said she was stepping down to care for her sick husband, to investigate alleged election fraud despite the Director of National Intelligence position having no mandate for it.

Property heir Pulte has previously shown his loyalty to Trump by going after the president's political enemies.

Pulte has used mortgage records to support investigations of Trump adversaries including Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff.

Trump's appointment of Pulte has also added to the president's growing rift with Republican lawmakers, who are looking nervously at the polls ahead of midterm elections in November.

US senators blocked legislation renewing a major foreign surveillance authority on Friday in protest at Pulte's appointment, upending a bipartisan deal.

Democrats said Pulte's appointment made it impossible to back expanded surveillance powers without assurances over how intelligence would be used.

R.Shaban--SF-PST