President Donald Trump swapped out one intelligence pick for another after Bill Pulte’s short-lived rise sparked a Republican backlash and helped blow up a high-stakes fight over warrantless surveillance powers.
His pick of Jay Clayton surfaced in a Truth Social post after Pulte’s name had already stirred resistance on Capitol Hill.
Clayton, the former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman and current U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, is now Trump’s choice to serve as director of national intelligence.
The move came after Pulte, who leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, ran into immediate trouble with senators from both parties when Trump floated him for the intelligence role on a temporary basis.
Trump framed Clayton as a heavyweight legal figure with the credibility to lead the intelligence community and sit in his Cabinet.
“I am pleased to announce the Nomination of very Highly Respected Jay Clayton, former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the former Head of Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the most prominent and successful Law Firms anywhere in the World,” the president wrote.
“And the current United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to be the next Director of National Intelligence and, importantly, to serve in my Cabinet.”
Senators have already confirmed Clayton once before, approving him 61-37 for the SEC job. Trump pressed the Senate for speed.
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“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” the president added.
“I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”
Republicans who had balked at Pulte found far less to object to in Clayton.
Tillis, one of Pulte’s loudest GOP skeptics, immediately lined up behind Clayton.
“Jay Clayton is an OUTSTANDING choice by President Trump to serve as Director of National Intelligence,” Tillis posted.
“Jay is a proven leader with a distinguished record of public service and sound judgment needed to lead our intelligence community. I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure his swift confirmation.”
Jay Clayton is an OUTSTANDING choice by President Trump to serve as Director of National Intelligence. Jay is a proven leader with a distinguished record of public service and sound judgment needed to lead our intelligence community. I look forward to working with my colleagues…
— Senator Thom Tillis (@SenThomTillis) June 11, 2026
His support landed differently because he had torched the Pulte rollout.
“Whoever told the president to go ahead and commit to this publicly before vetting it should lose their jobs, because they should know that the math just works against Pulte being confirmed,” Tillis warned then.
He also called Pulte an “incendiary attack dog” who did not have “a prayer” in the Senate.
Thune also sounded ready to move Clayton through the chamber.
“I think he’s a really good pick. He’s obviously very capable and competent and [has] a great record. So, my assumption is, and I would certainly hope that Democrats who are being objective about it are going to come to the same conclusion,” Thune told the Daily Caller.
The timing, however, still irritated Thune. “It would have, as always, the timing would have been better. It would have been nice if we could had this a couple of days earlier,” he told reporters.
“But like I said, you play the hand you’re dealt and we’ll try and figure out the best way to process this quickly,” Thune added.
That timing mattered because senators were already battling over whether to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a surveillance authority set to expire June 12.
Section 702 is the authority federal intelligence agencies use to gather warrantless communications from foreign targets, including work by the CIA, NSA and FBI.
Pulte’s name gave Democrats an opening to tank the surveillance bill. The bill failed Friday after Democratic opposition merged with defections from seven Republicans.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat to support moving forward.
Warner had helped shape the package with Cotton, but Pulte’s emergence pushed him into the no column.
“Nobody needs to tell me how important [Section] 702 is but I also know that someone who doesn’t even meet the basic qualifications of the law to be director of national intelligence shouldn’t be put in that position, particularly when he’s got a history of taking and weaponizing confidential information,” Warner said Tuesday.
Before the Pulte fight, Warner said, he and Cotton had a workable “compromise” on a “strong bill.”
After the collapse, Thune signaled the Senate was not done trying. “The naming of Pulte to that position, although the timing arguably wasn’t the best, I still don’t think it ought to derail something that’s this important,” he argued.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was even more blunt about Pulte, saying Monday that he would not vote to renew Section 702 while Pulte remained in the role.
“Reversing the Bill Pulte appointment is a starting point, not an ending point,” Jeffries said of the surveillance fight.
Jeffries gave a flat “no” when asked whether Pulte’s continued presence left any path to his vote.
The New York Democrat said the talks had already been delicate because lawmakers were divided over whether the bill should require warrants to access communications from Americans swept up while the government monitors foreign targets abroad.
Jeffries accused Trump of blowing up an already fragile process.
“Then Donald Trump, as he often does, tosses a hand grenade into those sensitive negotiations by elevating Bill Pulte as a director of National Intelligence, someone who’s a political hack, a malignant clown, and he’s woefully unqualified to serve in any position in the federal government, let alone as acting Director of National Intelligence,” Jeffries stated.
“That’s not just the House Democratic caucus position,” he noted. “The Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said that Bill Pulte is not qualified to be the acting director of National Intelligence.”
Pulte had already become a political lightning rod because of his work at the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Democrats have accused Pulte of turning mortgage records into a weapon against Trump foes, including Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff of California.
Thune had already warned that any permanent Pulte appointment would run straight into the Senate confirmation gauntlet.
“If they nominate him to take the position permanently, he’ll have to go through a confirmation process and hearings and everything else, so we’ll see,” Thune said earlier this month.
On the weaponization question, Thune’s answer was blunt. “We don’t need a weaponized DNI; we need professionals there.”
Trump, for his part, had tried to downplay the Pulte uproar by describing him as a short-term placeholder.
“It’s an acting position, it’s not a permanent — he’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent,” Trump said.
He also said aides were still “interviewing” candidates and described Pulte as “somebody just to take it over for a little while.”
