Rep. Jim Himes says Bill Pulte in intelligence role is Trump’s “worst and most dangerous” appointment

Washington — Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, lambasted President Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte, a controversial housing official, to serve as acting director of national intelligence. 

Mr. Trump’s choice of Pulte, who had been the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has drawn backlash from Democrats and some Republicans, who say it risks the reauthorization of a key warrantless surveillance program — Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — that expires Friday. 

“He doesn’t have an iota of national security experience and the president is putting him in this most sensitive of roles,” Himes said in an interview Sunday with “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” 

“In the basket of awful appointments he has made, this is probably the worst and most dangerous,” Himes said. “He doesn’t like to back down, but he’s also not going to like the terrorist attacks that might happen if there is no 702 collection authority.” 

National security officials have long argued that the law is vital for disrupting terrorist plots, foreign espionage, international drug trafficking and cyber intrusions. 

Himes noted the timing of the appointment ahead of Friday’s deadline — which Congress has already punted twice through short-term extensions — saying it has taken reauthorization “off the table.” 

“You just could not have come up with worse timing for what is probably the worst appointment into the intelligence community that I’ve ever seen,” he said. “If we had to pass another bill in the context of Bill Pulte, I don’t think we could.” 

In April, the House passed a three-year extension, with 42 Democrats voting in favor, but the bill stalled in the Senate over the inclusion of an unrelated measure that prevented the Federal Reserve from creating a central bank digital currency. 

“I will tell you that at least half of those Democrats are gone,” Himes said of what Pulte’s appointment means for Democratic votes in favor of reauthorization. “The only right answer — and I don’t have a lot of confidence that it’s going to happen — is that the president says, ‘Oops, that was a mistake,’ and pulls the Bill Pulte appointment in favor of somebody who will give not just Democrats, but everybody more confidence.” 

Last week, the Senate blocked another extension of Section 702 over concerns about warrantless surveillance of Americans. 

Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Chuck Grassley of Iowa asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a letter on Saturday to “plan for a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection” if Section 702 lapses after Friday. 

The letter, obtained by CBS News, called on Rubio to “identify all intelligence targets on which the United States may lose valuable intelligence information, “and “determine alternative lawful and constitutional intelligence-collection methods by which the United States could continue collecting intelligence on these individuals.” It also called on the White House, “if necessary,” to draft an executive order “to remedy the gap left by the lapse.”