Jay Clayton tapped for DNI role as Congress pushes back on Pulte

President Donald Trump confirmed Thursday that Bill Pulte’s tenure as acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) will be temporary. He announced on social media the nomination of Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to the permanent position.

“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”

Clayton is the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the former head of law firm Sullivan & Cromwell.

Pulte was appointed on June 2 to serve as acting DNI, stepping in after Tulsi Gabbard withdrew from the role. Pulte also serves as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and chairman of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But his appointment drew immediate criticism from Congress, and the DNI role traditionally requires Senate confirmation. Lawmakers quickly signaled that Pulte would face an uphill battle to secure approval for the permanent role.

On June 4, Senate Republicans and Democrats clashed over establishing guardrails for acting appointments. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined Democrats in supporting an amendment to a budget reconciliation package that would bar Senate-confirmed agency heads from simultaneously performing the DNI role in an acting capacity. The amendment ultimately failed.

Following the pushback, Trump acknowledged the temporary nature of Pulte’s intelligence role, stating that he was “not going to be permanent” because “I don’t think he’d want to be permanent.”

Another sign of congressional resistance emerged when the House of Representatives rejected a proposal to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) on Thursday. Democrats refused to back the measure explicitly due to Pulte’s nomination.

Critics have pointed out that Pulte lacks a traditional intelligence or military background for a role that oversees the broader U.S. intelligence community. The DNI is responsible for coordinating roughly 20 agencies and advising senior government officials on critical national security threats, including terrorism, espionage, cyberattacks and foreign influence operations.