Senate Democrats halt extension of surveillance powers in protest of Pulte's nomination as national intelligence director
President Donald Trump said Thursday that Bill Pulte would not be his "permanent" choice for the security post. "He’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent," the Republican noted.
Bill Pulte at the White House/Brendan Smialowski.
Senate Democrats early Friday blocked the start of debate to extend enhanced surveillance powers, set to expire in a week, in protest of President Donald Trump's decision to appoint Bill Pulte as acting national intelligence director.
The motion to move forward with legislation that would have allowed for renewed surveillance powers under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was rejected by 47 votes to 52. All Democrats voted against it, with the exception of Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.
According to The Hill, six Republicans also joined the rejection: Josh Hawley, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Eric Schmitt, Rick Scott and Tommy Tuberville.
The vote represents a setback for Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, who had been close to reaching a deal with Democrats to extend surveillance powers before their expiration on June 12.
Sen. Mark Warner, Democratic vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, argued that his caucus could not support renewing those powers as long as Pulte remains in a position from which he could access intelligence information.
"The bipartisan bill that Tom Cotton and I worked on was a good bill but the idea that a few days before critical moments on FISA renewal that the president picked someone so grossly unqualified. You just can’t abide that," Warner said after the vote.
Criticism of Pulte centers on his performance as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. According to Democratic senators, he used confidential information related to mortgage records to support investigations and prosecutions against Trump's political adversaries, including Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Senator Adam Schiff.
"He’s not going to be permanent"
"He’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent," Trump said while answering questions in the Oval Office after a coal event cited by the AP. The president also called Pulte a smart man.
In that regard, the Republican assured that there were other candidates being considered for the nomination to the post. "We’re interviewing people right now," he said.
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