Trump Endorses Further Cuts to ODNI Workforce, Citing Longstanding Bloat After Gabbard's 30% Reduction
President Trump said on Air Force One that he supports workforce reductions at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence under incoming acting Director Bill Pulte.
Washington ExaminerPresident Donald Trump said Friday he would welcome incoming acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte cutting the intelligence community’s workforce. “I wouldn’t mind if he cut,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. ” Earlier Friday, Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he had asked his Federal Housing Finance Agency director and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to “start the process” of firing a large number of employees at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
“I’d like to see it smaller,” he said. ” Gabbard leaves her position at the end of June. During her tenure, she reduced the ODNI workforce of 1,800 people by 30 percent, Washington Examiner reported.
Trump’s comments come as lawmakers on Capitol Hill have raised concerns that he and Pulte are poised to politicize the DNI position. Pulte, the grandson of a real estate mogul, has used access to mortgage applications to criminally refer Sen. Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook to the Justice Department over allegations of mortgage fraud.
Republicans have long criticized the DNI’s office as a post-9/11 mistake. “The whole thing was a post-9/11 mistake,” one former Trump administration official told the Washington Examiner. ” Another Trump alumnus pointed to leaks from ODNI in recent months.
“There needs to be an internal hunt for leakers from the top,” the source said.
