Trump wants Bill Pulte to fire big chunk of national intelligence office staff: WSJ

Bill Pulte, FHFA Director, speaking on CNBC on Jan. 8, 2026. CNBC President Donald Trump reportedly said Friday that he wants incoming acting director of national intelligence Bill Pulte to "start the process" of firing large numbers of employees in the DNI's office. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump, in an interview, said those firings would be part of a shakeup of the U.S. intelligence community. The office of DNI oversees 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency. Trump's comments are certain to further roil members of Congress, including Republican senators , who have already criticized the president's appointment of Pulte earlier this week to replace outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard on an acting basis. Trump said Thursday that Pulte is "not going to be permanent" in the role. Pulte, who has no intelligence agency experience, will continue to serve as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency until Trump nominates another person to be DNI. Trump had told Pulte that he believes the DNI's office is "unnecessary and or too big," the Journal reported Friday, quoting the president's characterization of that discussion. "I'd like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn't be there,' Trump said, pointing to holdovers from the Biden and Obama administrations," the newspaper reported.