Momentum Builds to Rein In Domestic Spying Law — Whether or Not Bill Pulte Survives as Intel Chief
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“I have been doing this a while,” Sen. Ron Wyden told The Intercept. “And I’ve never had this kind of bipartisan support.”
The post Momentum Builds to Rein In Domestic Spying Law — Whether or Not Bill Pulte Survives as Intel Chief appeared first on The Intercept.
The Fifa president’s monologue before the 2022 World Cup attained legendary status for all the wrong reasons. He was in familiar form four years onGianni Infantino’s speech on the eve of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is the stuff of legend. You know the one – the rambling, hour-long monologue where he told us all how he felt. He felt gay that day. He also felt disabled, Qatari, Arab, African and like a migrant worker. In doing so, the Fifa president engraved himself permanently into meme culture, and his remarks remain a popular source of online amusement to this day.On Wednesday, amid a gaggle of reporters and photographers, Infantino once again took to the stage. He sat in a tent in the shadow of the Estadio Azteca – it has been renamed Estadio Ciudad de México for the World Cup – a place many see as the western hemisphere’s cathedral of football. On Thursday, Mexico will host South Africa in the opening match of the 2026 World Cup. Continue reading...
Tulsi Gabbard, the outgoing director of national intelligence, got an unexpected call Tuesday from her controversial successor, Bill Pulte: "Today is your last day," he said.Gabbard was surprised. She had announced she was leaving at month's end, not Tuesday."I need to hear it from the president or the White House," Gabbard told Pulte, two officials briefed on the discussion told Axios.Why it matters: The call, unreported until now, was the latest flashpoint in the intelligence wars that erupted last week in D.C. after President Trump picked Pulte as Gabbard's temporary replacement.After the conversation with Pulte, Gabbard got ahold of Trump, who didn't request her immediate resignation. "What day works best for you?" the president asked, according to one of the sources.Gabbard said June 19, and Trump then posted a statement on his Truth Social account announcing her new exit date.He also confirmed that Pulte would lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence until he finds a nominee whom the Senate will confirm.The backstory: Pulte's phone call to Gabbard came on a day when top Trump advisers held a meeting in the White House's Situation Room to try to find a solution to the administration's standoff with Congress over renewing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).Trump's appointment of Pulte led to a bipartisan revolt in Congress, which has balked at reauthorizing a key federal surveillance law because of concerns about Pulte's lack of qualifications.Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has no intelligence experience or even a security clearance to handle classified information.Gabbard's new departure date was a partial win for Pulte; Gabbard initially planned to resign June 30 as she helps her husband battle cancer.The intrigue: Pulte was able to persuade Trump to pick him as Gabbard's successor by promising to fire more ODNI staff, mainly officials who couldn't cut it at other agencies and alleged "deep state" bureaucrats deemed sympathetic to Democrats, a senior administration official said.Pulte's family, Florida-based developers, have been friends with Trump for years and belong to his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla Pulte, who clashed with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last year, is a frequent White House visitor and played a role in Trump posting a controversial meme depicting the president as a Christ-like healer.What they're saying: As Tuesday's Situation Room meeting indicated, Trump's team is still dealing with the fallout from Pulte's appointment. It caught some White House officials off-guard and derailed Congress' negotiations on reauthorizing FISA."Nobody seems to know what the f**k is going on," one administration official said.Retorted a senior official: "This admin official is a dumb f**k and clearly is not in the loop."But Trump's allies in Congress weren't in the loop, either. Said one: "We were so close to FISA passing, and then this Pulte thing blew it up."Trump retrenched somewhat Tuesday by confirming that Pulte's appointment is temporary. But he stood by Pulte, said one adviser who added that "the FISA-for-Pulte hostage deal isn't one the president will buckle to."
One of America's most powerful spy authorities is nearing an unprecedented lapse, threatening to plunge intelligence agencies and telecommunications companies into legal uncertainty if allowed to go dark on Friday. Why it matters: Members in both parties are warning that an expiration of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act could jeopardize U.S. national security. Section 702 feeds more than half of the president's daily briefing and has been credited with helping thwart terror plots and other national-security threats.It allows the attorney general and director of national intelligence to compel electronic service providers to provide communications involving foreign intelligence targets overseas.The intrigue: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court re-certified Section 702 procedures through 2027 earlier this year.But if Congress fails to renew the underlying statutory authority, intelligence agencies and telecommunications companies will face immediate legal uncertainty over what collection activities may continue.The result could be a chaotic and largely untested period for one of the intelligence community's most heavily used authorities.Zoom in: Democrats are refusing to back an extension of Section 702 unless Trump reverses his decision to name Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence.Trump wants Pulte — who lacks any national security experience — "to execute the immediate and needed downsizing" of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, he posted Wednesday on Truth Social."Bill Pulte cannot serve a minute as acting director of national intelligence, and until that elevation is abandoned, there's nothing really to talk about," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters Wednesday."Pulte is just one of the most vicious, incapable, non-fact-based people I've ever seen in the government," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Punchbowl News.Between the lines: Before Trump picked Pulte, GOP lawmakers appeared close to assembling a bipartisan coalition for a longer-term 702 extension.Negotiations had been difficult, with lawmakers struggling for months to bridge disagreements over surveillance reforms.What they're saying: "It'd be a very dangerous time to allow us to not have that important national security tool," House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Wednesday. "We have a lot of big events going on around the country right now. We have the FIFA World Cup, we have the American 250 events, Freedom 250 events.""I'm the only one in this institution that's actually used 702 to save lives. It is critical to the president's daily brief. It's the single most important 9/11 commission recommendation that we have, and it's at risk of going dark due to foolishness," Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) told Axios."I don't agree with [Pulte's] nomination, and I don't agree with them voting against FISA because of it," Fitzpatrick added.What's next: The House will take up a short-term extension on Thursday morning to keep the program going through July 2.The vote, which will require two-thirds support, is expected to fall short.The bottom line: Not every Democrat is comfortable allowing the authority to expire, but Johnson is nowhere close to the necessary two-thirds majority and some Republicans aren't signaling support for a short-term extension."I'm not going to play politics with our national security, that's...you know, that's for Donald Trump to do," Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told Axios. "I encourage my colleagues to do the same."Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), who has been pushing for reforms to the program, told Axios he's considering voting against a short-term extension. "They ask guys like us, 'Well, could you please give us a little more time to get this done?' You grow tired of that crap after a while."
Republicans are struggling to extend a powerful surveillance authority set to lapse this weekend after President Trump alienated lawmakers with his choice of acting spy chief.
The House will vote Thursday morning on a short-term reauthorization of a key government spy program ahead of a Friday deadline, taking control of the surveillance authority’s future as talks in the Senate stall. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced Wednesday that the House will vote on a short-term extension of Section 702 of the […]
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Wednesday condemned Bill Gates’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein, which began after the disgraced financier pleaded guilty to sex crimes in 2008. The billionaire testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday about his ties to Epstein. As the committee’s ranking member, Garcia noted that Gates was…
