GOP senators predicted this week that William J. Pulte, whom President Trump made acting director of national intelligence last week, will be sacrificed for the purposes of reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire on Friday.
Democrats have refused to move forward on negotiations to renew the foreign spying authority while Mr. Pulte leads the agency.
Mr. Pulte has served as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, where he referred New York Attorney General Letitia James and Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook to the Department of Justice for mortgage fraud charges, drawing fire from Democrats.
“I have to assume the president realizes that Pulte has caused a political problem between the Congress and between the White House because that is what has held FISA up at this point,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley said Tuesday.
“I assume the president knows that because he announced that they were going to interview or have interviewed about four or five other people for the permanent position, so I don’t think it’s the case that any of us should think Pulte is there forever,” the Iowa Republican told The Washington Times.
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But Mr. Trump — a day later — indicated he is not moving forward at this time to replace Mr. Pulte, at least for now.
Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican, defended Mr. Pulte to reporters on Monday, but suggested the White House and Republicans will eventually have to move on.
“They’ll sacrifice Pulte, I don’t think there is any question about that,” he told The Times on Monday.
“Bill is a good guy, but I mean, Trump has a lot of problems he is dealing with right now. He has to get FISA reauthorized, he is dealing with the weaponization fund, finally we got CBP and ICE paid for, which was all self-inflicted,” Mr. Scott said.
Mr. Scott said he believes there is not enough time for the White House to negotiate with Congress so it is likely the issue will be punted for a period of time.
Just about 24 hours after saying he would not replace Mr. Pulte, Mr. Trump changed his mind.
He nominated U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the permanent post as director of national intelligence. The move came hours after the House declined to reauthorize FISA.
