Hi there, everyone. It's 4 o'clock in the East. It is a precarious day for our country,

for our national security, and for the future of our nation's intelligence agencies.

With Donald Trump's personal political attack dog,

Bill Pulte, officially assuming the role of acting director of national intelligence today.

It's a job for which Pulte has zero qualifications, except for his unwavering loyalty to Donald

Trump. Brand new reporting reveals just how eager Pulte was to start the job

and try to disrupt the office he is supposed to lead. According to CNN's reporting on this,

quote, Pulte showed up at his new job a day early on Thursday after asking for a list of every

employee in the office so he could assess whether to fire them.

That's according to two people familiar with the matter.

CNN adds this reporting, quote,

The sources said Pulte is eyeing to cut hundreds of jobs at the office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Pulte's appearance at ODNI Thursday caught staff off guard, including the outgoing director, Tulsi Gabbard, who was given a brief heads up on the visit.

Trump himself has said that Pulte, who is a Trump loyalist with no intelligence experience, would start his job Friday.

Pulte's short resume includes serving as the head of the federal housing finance agency,

where he's drummed up mortgage fraud cases against Trump's perceived enemies, and Donald Trump's

decision to have him lead the country's 18 intelligence agencies has proven so controversial and

unpopular that even members of Donald Trump's own political party don't support

Pulte. Trump was forced to nominate U.S. Attorney J. Clayton instead to be the permanent

DNI after Pulte faced bipartisan backlash. But Trump, proving himself, if nothing else, erratic

abruptly pulled the rug out from Clayton's nomination hearing scheduled earlier this week,

giving both lawmakers and the intelligence community whiplash.

...