Hi, everyone. It is 4 o'clock in New York. I'm Eamon Mohideen in for Nicole Wallace. News breaking

earlier today, revealing that Donald Trump's quest to bend our national security apparatus to his

will has now been turbocharged by his acting director of national intelligence, Bill Palti.

MS. Now's Von Hilliard has some exclusive new reporting that, quote, dozens of intelligence

officials began receiving notice of their terminations on Thursday under Bill Pulte, an

intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to potential reprisals

told MS Now that the individuals being removed by the Trump administration are officials who they believe

are deep state. Intelligence leadership alleges that the fired workers have not provided complete

pictures of available intelligence, the officials said. The moves come after Pulte's elimination

last month of six political appointees who served under Tulsi Gabbard, that previous

director of national intelligence. Now, the premise is absurd, one of the former officials said.

Another of the former officials questioned how Pulte, who has no experience working in intelligence,

would be able to make such a determination so quickly. Quote, I have a real question of how he would know this.

This isn't a guy who is familiar with intelligence, said the former official,

who also spoke on condition of anonymity, citing concerns about retaliation.

How is he going to get to the bottom of this and rely on any information with a matter of fidelity.

It would be like me taking over a hospital and firing dozens of surgeons in a matter of days.

A recent Wall Street Journal interview with Donald Trump, however, making it clear that this is

less about Pulte managing to uncover some new information about these intelligence officers

and more about passing a loyalty test. The Wall Street Journal reported at the time this,

just last month, quote, President Trump said that he wants Bill Pulte, his incoming acting director

of national intelligence, to begin firing a large number of employees as part of a shakeup of the U.S. intelligence

...