directs

Interim ODNI chief Bill Pulte has been slammed by Democrats as a Trump loyalist with no intelligence background.

United States President Donald Trump has directed Bill Pulte to cut staff at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as soon as he takes up his role as acting intelligence chief.

The order came in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, in which Trump doubled down on his choice of Pulte, a controversial pick.

“I have named William Pulte to be Acting Director of National Intelligence, who will take over on June 19th, and have asked him to execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office, reverting staff to their home agencies,” Trump wrote.

Pulte’s appointment has sparked bipartisan pushback, with Democrats especially questioning his qualifications.

A businessman with ties to construction and private equity, Pulte has no intelligence or military background, and critics see him as a Trump loyalist who has attacked the president’s critics.

In Wednesday’s post, Trump did emphasise he was already searching for Pulte’s successor. “I am looking for a permanent ODNI Nominee with experience in National Security,” he wrote.

But Pulte’s short-term appointment has become a flashpoint in Congress, with Democrats refusing to renew a controversial surveillance measure until a permanent pick is selected.

When he takes up his interim role next week, Pulte will succeed former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down last month after her husband was diagnosed with cancer.

But Congress members like Democrat Mark Warner, a key figure on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, have decried Pulte as “grossly unqualified”.

Warner and other leaders have also warned that Pulte’s appointment would complicate negotiations to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows warrantless surveillance of communications involving foreigners.

That measure is divisive on both sides of the aisle, as it has also resulted in the surveillance of US citizens. It allows intelligence agencies to collect emails, texts and phone data without warrants, if the communications in question are believed to involve individuals outside the US.

Warner said naming Pulte to head the ODNI was like “throwing a live hand grenade” into Congress’s efforts to reauthorise Section 702.

Last week, all but one Senate Democrat and seven Republicans voted against a three-year extension of Section 702, citing concerns about Pulte. Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman was the only Democrat to break party ranks in that 52-47 vote.

But Trump has called on Congress to pass a temporary extension of Section 702, denouncing Democrats for blocking the bill.

“Just like they did on Border Funding, the Radical Left Dumocrats [sic] are trying to take our National Security hostage because of unrelated issues,” Trump wrote on Wednesday. “They should stop playing politics with the safety of our Great Country.”

Still, Trump has faced backlash from within his Republican Party, with congressional leaders calling on the president to select a permanent intelligence chief to put the matter to bed.

“We don’t need a weaponised DNI [director of national intelligence],” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters. “We need professionals here.”

Critics have questioned whether Pulte would use US intelligence capabilities to persecute Trump’s perceived political enemies.

Currently, the 38-year-old Pulte serves as the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

In that position, Pulte has accused several of Trump’s adversaries of mortgage fraud. They include  Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, all of whom Trump has personally attacked.

Democrats have accused the 38-year-old Pulte of weaponising his government role for political aims.

The Israeli army has already expanded its control of Gaza by 11 percent over the ‘Yellow Line’, beyond the terms of the ‘ceasefire’.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Israeli army to expand its control of the Gaza Strip to 70 percent, according to remarks aired by Israeli media.

“At this point, we are fully in control of 60 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip … and my directive is to get to … 70 percent,” Netanyahu said in footage recorded by Channel 12 and aired on Thursday.

When someone in the audience shouted that Israel should take the entire besieged enclave, the prime minister said “we are going in order”, according to The Times of Israel. “First 70 percent,” he said without disputing that a complete takeover could take place. “We’ll start with that.”

The Israeli army had in mid-March quietly sent maps to aid organisations showing it had already expanded its control to about 11 percent beyond the so-called “Yellow Line” demarcating areas of the enclave occupied by Israeli troops. That line was agreed in a United States-brokered “ceasefire” in October 2025. That meant it controlled 64 percent of the Palestinian territory, instead of 53 percent.

Due to the Israeli army occupation, Palestinians cannot access about two-thirds of Gaza. A further seizure of the territory would force two million of them, already living in disastrous conditions, into an even smaller territory after enduring two years of genocidal war.

Despite the nominal truce reached last year, Israeli bombing in Gaza continues with near-daily attacks. An Al Jazeera tally from October to April counted at least 2,400 Israeli violations. Earlier on Thursday, health authorities said an Israeli air raid killed at least 10 people, including four children, and wounded 20 others.

According to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) latest report, the humanitarian situation for civilians in Gaza remains critical, with displaced families living in overcrowded tents, schools or damaged structures. Clean water is scarce, and poor waste collection is increasing health risks, including the spread of rats and insects. Many neighbourhoods across Gaza are also still dangerous, with frequent air strikes, shelling and shootings happening in or near residential areas, the report said.

Last week, the high representative overseeing the US-founded Board of Peace for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, warned that the deteriorating status quo in the enclave risks becoming “permanent”.  Speaking to the UN Security Council, he urged the international body to use “every means at its disposal” to press Hamas to disarm and to push Israel to uphold its commitment under the October ceasefire, pointing to its continued killings and restrictions on humanitarian flow.

The war that Israel launched following the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups has killed more than 72,775 Palestinians. The Israeli military continues to maintain a strict security regime, and many hundreds more have been killed in the past seven months. Conflict monitors warn that since the US-Israel war on Iran started in February, Israeli bombardment of Gaza has accelerated.