By Jacob Bogage and Jonathan LandayUS President Donald Trump appointed federal housing regulator Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence on Tuesday, elevating a political loyalist with no national security experience to lead the sprawling US intelligence community at a time of war and global tensions.Pulte, 38, has used his position as head of a low-profile mortgage regulatory agency to push for investigations of several of Trump’s perceived enemies for alleged mortgage fraud. None have yet resulted in criminal charges.Democrats and at least one Republican blasted Pulte, who replaces Tulsi Gabbard, as unqualified to oversee US intelligence services.Pulte can serve in the job for up to 210 days without being confirmed by the Senate. That time frame would allow him to remain in the post until after the November midterm elections in which Trump’s fellow Republicans are seeking to retain control of Congress.Trump said Pulte will continue as Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director and chair of federally supported mortgage backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while also overseeing the 18 agencies that comprise the US intelligence community.“William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets, and over 10 Trillion Dollars at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, a substantial increase from where it was just 12 months ago,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.Pulte will oversee the premier foreign spy service, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency, the huge organisation that eavesdrops on foreign communications and helps defend the US against cyberattacks.Senate Republican Leader John Thune said Pulte might have trouble winning confirmation in the narrowly divided chamber if Trump decides to nominate him to the post beyond the current temporary appointment.“If he’s somebody we want in that position permanently, he’s got a lengthy road ahead of him,” news website Semafor quoted Thune as saying.Gabbard, a Trump appointee who has served as director of national intelligence since February 2025, announced plans last month to leave the post effective on June 30. Gabbard reportedly was forced from the role over frictions with the White House; Gabbard says she resigned due to her husband’s recent cancer diagnosis.Like Pulte, Gabbard has used the traditionally nonpartisan intelligence position to advance Trump’s political interests, taking a leading role in efforts to investigate the president’s baseless claims of 2020 election fraud.His appointment comes as the US is embroiled in the Iran war and a raft of other foreign policy challenges, including Russia’s war on Ukraine and China’s growing military and economic clout.Pulte did not respond to a request for comment.‘Partisan thug’“I don’t see any evidence of qualifications for that job,” said Republican John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee who lost a primary election last week to a Trump-backed challenger.Pulte has encouraged prosecutions of the president’s perceived political enemies, accusing New York attorney-general Letitia James, California Senator Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, of mortgage fraud.A federal grand jury refused to indict James in a justice department prosecution. Officials have not brought charges against Schiff, who denies the allegations.Trump attempted to fire Cook — an unprecedented move by a president against a US central bank official — over Pulte’s unsubstantiated accusations, but courts allowed her to remain in the role. She, too, denies the allegations. The supreme court is expected to rule in the coming weeks in her case.Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer called Pulte a “partisan thug”.“A guy who can file such baseless, political and outrageous charges against political office holders he doesn’t like can’t be entrusted to protect our national security,” Schumer said.Family businessPulte is heir to his family’s residential development firm, Pulte Group, which was founded by his grandfather in the 1950s. He previously founded a private equity firm, Pulte Capital, and is involved in philanthropy.As intelligence director, Gabbard led several initiatives she cast as rooting out politicisation from the intelligence community. But she was largely absent from deliberations between ​Trump and his top national security advisers ⁠on major foreign policy issues.She was present in January at an FBI search of an election facility in Georgia, one of the key battlegrounds in Trump’s 2020 election loss to Biden. The search, records later showed, was based on questionable data supplied by a White House political appointee known for echoing Trump’s false claims of election fraud.Pulte’s views on the 2020 election were not immediately clear. He deleted 25,000 social media posts before Trump nominated him to serve as FHFA head, according to Senator Elizabeth Warren.