President Donald Trump’s pick for acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, showed up at his new job a day early, asking for a list of every employee in the office to assess whether to fire them. Pulte is eyeing cutting hundreds of jobs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Background

Pulte, a Trump loyalist with no intelligence experience, was appointed by Trump despite concerns from Democrats and some Republicans that he is unfit for the job. Trump has given Pulte a mandate to further shrink the intelligence community and pursue the president’s claims of election fraud.

Pulte’s appearance at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on Thursday caught staff off guard, including the outgoing director, Tulsi Gabbard. Pulte met with lawyers and staffers during his visit, and has asked about his level of security clearance and whether he had access to a government plane.

Reaction

There is concern from Democrats and some Republicans that Pulte will use his position to pursue Trump’s vendettas. Pulte has been hand-picked by Trump to replace Gabbard, who had been investigating claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Trump has said that Pulte may find out some things about the rigged elections, and that he wants to do it very much. This has reinforced fears that the undermining of confidence in elections by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence may not stop with Gabbard’s departure.

Original reporting: WPBF (Treasure Coast / Hearst) — read the source article.