Trump indicates to Speaker Johnson he won’t back down on Pulte despite fight over key surveillance authority

Summary

• President Trump Donald indicated to House Speaker Mike Johnson he won’t back down on his appointment of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, sources told CNN.
• Democrats’ have revolted over the appointment, leading to a standoff that threatens to lead to the expiration of a key surveillance authority.
• Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is on track to expire with no clear path to an agreement between the parties.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

President Donald Trump indicated to House Speaker Mike Johnson during a meeting Tuesday that he wouldn’t back down on his decision to elevate Bill Pulte to acting director of national intelligence, despite threats from Democrats to let a key surveillance power lapse over the appointment, two sources briefed on the meeting told CNN.

GOP leaders are entering crisis mode with just days to go before the authority for the critical surveillance power expires with no clear path to a deal — except ditching Pulte.

Later Tuesday, Trump appeared to double down on his decision, stunning intelligence staffers and lawmakers by announcing Pulte would start his role as acting DNI on June 19. The White House had told Tulsi Gabbard and her team that he would take over after her planned departure at the end of the month.

Privately, Trump has argued to allies that Pulte’s time as acting director would be short — and meant to clear out and restructure the intelligence community before he nominated a permanent replacement. Trump privately said it would be better not to have the permanent director carry out massive firings, sources told CNN.

He also indicated he would not remove Pulte just to appease Democrats. Some allies had indicated to Trump that he would look weak if he named a permanent DNI just to get an extension on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA.

Republican lawmakers and Trump advisers had been having conversations about how to move forward without Pulte, including at one point floating the idea of extending Gabbard’s tenure.

But Pulte has built his own team of MAGA loyalists who were lobbying the president behind closed doors. Pulte has also continued to pitch himself to Trump directly, and a White House official said he spent time with the president over the weekend.

Inside the Capitol, Pulte has had few defenders on either side of the aisle. Privately, many GOP lawmakers remain baffled by Trump’s move to promote him. Some believe Trump’s decision came at the worst possible time for party leaders as they navigate tiny margins — and emboldened lame-duck members — in the final months before the midterms.

“This is the most critical national security tool we have. We cannot go dark, ever. Especially when we have America’s 250 and FIFA coming now, like this week,” GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a longtime member of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN about the mounting FISA risk.

“Everyone needs to be a grown-up,” Fitzpatrick said, adding on Pulte: “I don’t think he ever should have been put in.”

“We need serious people in these roles. These are serious roles, we need serious people,” Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, an independent who recently left the GOP, told CNN on Tuesday.

Yet GOP leaders are not sure whether the White House is getting the message.

Johnson, whose tenure has been marked by deference to Trump, has had multiple private conversations with the president to discuss the matter, including the lengthy sit-down earlier Tuesday. Johnson has been tight-lipped about Pulte himself, but he made clear that he worries that Democrats’ protest could shut down the FISA powers.

“The Democrats now have taken a hostage on this, and they’re suggesting that they might not advance it. We’re hoping they can get that together. We cannot allow FISA to go dark. It’d be a dangerous prospect, and I think everybody who is reasonable understands that,” Johnson said Tuesday.

There had previously been cautious optimism on Capitol Hill that lawmakers could pass a bipartisan agreement to extend Section 702 of FISA for three years — but Democrats revolted after Trump named Pulte, a housing official with a lack of demonstrated national security experience, to the role of as acting DNI. Democrats are protesting the surveillance measure over Pulte’s role, refusing to provide votes that GOP leaders need to send the bill to Trump’s desk.

Even Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who rarely suggests public directives for the White House, has been clear it needs to address the Pulte issue or face a mounting problem over FISA. And on Tuesday, he offered a glimpse of a potential solution.

Thune told CNN that he believes the White House is “weighing seriously” quickly making a permanent pick for director of national intelligence in an effort to satisfy Democrats and get FISA 702 extended. But he said the administration is not considering dropping Pulte altogether as acting DNI.

Some of Thune’s members have been more blunt.

“Democrats are not going to vote to pass 702 until he’s withdrawn, and we need that done. … The stalemate needs to be broken,” GOP Sen. John Cornyn told CNN on Monday.

Some Republicans believe that enough centrist Democrats will back down in the game of chicken by the Friday evening deadline to extend the surveillance authority. But Democrats insist they’re not bluffing.

At a closed-door meeting of House Democrats on Tuesday morning, Rep. Jim Himes — the party’s top member on the intelligence committee — implored his colleagues not to cave if Pulte remains in his position, according to a person familiar.