Pulte appointment ups pressure for Congress to punt on reauthorizing spy powers

The looming deadline to renew the nation’s warrantless spy powers is clashing with a pressure campaign on the White House to yank the appointment of Bill Pulte, a controversial figure tapped to lead the intelligence community. 

A growing number of Democrats have said they will not vote to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) so long as Pulte serves as the acting director of national intelligence (DNI).

It’s just the latest hiccup in the process of reauthorizing Section 702, raising the possibility that Congress may need to again pass a short-term extension of the program after already punting twice this year when Congress failed to come to agreement over how to reform the spy program. 

Pulte’s appointment has sparked rare bipartisan pushback, with lawmakers in both parties questioning his qualifications and Democrats sounding the alarm about Pulte using his existing perch at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to refer numerous Trump foes for prosecution over alleged mortgage fraud.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said FISA negotiations were “already in a very sensitive place” before Pulte’s appointment.

“Then Donald Trump, as he often does, tosses a hand grenade into those sensitive negotiations by elevating Bill Pulte as a director of National Intelligence, someone who’s a political hack, a malignant clown, and he’s woefully unqualified to serve in any position in the federal government, let alone as acting director of national intelligence,” Jeffries told reporters Monday.

“Reversing the Bill Pulte appointment is a starting point, not an ending point,” for renewing Section 702, he said.

In tapping Pulte, Trump has generated calls to yank him from both those who want significant reforms to the spy program and those who are eager to see it........

© The Hill