July 2, 2026 – Hillary Clinton urges federal employees to defy Trump’s acting DNI Bill Pulte

Bill Pulte — the FHFA director tapped as acting Director of National Intelligence after Tulsi Gabbard stepped aside at the end of June, holding the seat until Trump nominee Jay Clayton is confirmed — drew a remarkable response from Hillary Clinton. She called him “𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴” and a “𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘯”, then went further than criticism.

“𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸-𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘗𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘦. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦.” She also called his appointment “𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺.”

Set aside the merits of Pulte’s qualifications for a moment and read what Clinton actually said: a 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 publicly hoping that federal employees withhold information from their own director and inviting a lawsuit to block him. That is not policy criticism. That is a former Cabinet official encouraging the intelligence bureaucracy to obstruct a lawfully appointed official.

Pulte, for his part, has not been shy about using the post — he has already sent criminal referrals to DOJ alleging mortgage fraud against several of the administration’s political opponents. Clinton’s complaint may be less about his resume and more about what he’s been doing with the job.

“𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰-𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭” 𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐘 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏’𝐒 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐄𝐅 𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐏𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐄

Bill Pulte — the FHFA director tapped as acting Director of National Intelligence after Tulsi Gabbard… pic.twitter.com/DScYwpwNMH

— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) July 3, 2026