Bill Pulte, the federal official overseeing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is adding another high-profile role to his resume after Trump on Tuesday named him acting director of national intelligence.
Pulte, a resident of Boynton Beach, Florida, who has no intelligence experience, will oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies after Tulsi Gabbard steps down at the end of the month, CNBC reported. He will continue to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Trump said in a Truth Social post.
In the post, Trump praised Pulte’s management of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the trillions of dollars in assets tied to the enterprises.
After taking over at FHFA in March 2025, Pulte named himself chairman of the government-sponsored enterprises and cleaned house in the name of minimizing alleged fraud, firing Freddie’s CEO, 25 percent of FHFA, a dozen Fannie and Freddie board members and over 100 Fannie employees, The Real Deal previously reported.
Pulte also established a mortgage fraud tipline.
His anti-fraud efforts have targeted Trump’s political enemies, using allegations of fraud to pursue charges against prominent public officials. Last year, Pulte filed a criminal referral against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, alleging she falsely designated two properties as her primary residence.
Trump moved to fire Cook based on the allegations, and Cook fought back with a lawsuit. Her case is pending before the Supreme Court.
Pulte has pushed repeatedly for an investigation into the finances of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump and the Trump Organization in 2022 alleging financial fraud. Pulte filed a criminal referral against James, alleging she misrepresented information on bank and property records tied to a 2020 mortgage.
James was charged in October with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. A federal judge dismissed the case against James and former FBI Director James Comey in November after finding that Lindesy Halligan, the former Trump lawyer who brought the indictment, was illegally appointed by the Department of Justice.
Pulte’s latest move against James came in March when he again filed criminal referrals with the Department of Justice for alleged insurance fraud.
Bill Pulte is the grandson of William ‘Bill’ Pulte, the billionaire founder of Atlanta-based PulteGroup, one of the nation’s largest homebuilding companies.
— Grace McClung