Welcome to the News Hour. President Trump today named Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency,

as acting director of national intelligence, replacing Tulsi Gabbard. Pulte, a loyal Trump ally who has

frequently targeted the president's political opponents, has no background in national intelligence.

As acting DNI, he will oversee the nation's 18 intelligence

agencies while also keeping his current role as a housing official. That's according to Mr.

Trump's announcement on social media. The appointment drew swift criticism from Democrats, while

the Senate's top Republican also raised concerns about the selection. We're joined now by White House correspondent

Liz Landers. So Liz, Mr. Pulte currently heads the agencies that deal with housing and mortgages.

What more should we know about his background? He comes from this home building empire, the Pulte

group. He's a Floridian by birth. He's relatively young at 38 years old. And as you mentioned,

he's currently the head of the federal housing finance agency

and the chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It's not clear what his intelligence background is.

And today, Dr. Mehmet-Az, the CMS administrator, briefed reporters in the White House briefing room today.

And myself and three other reporters asked about his qualifications.

Here was our exchange.

Congressional statute says any appointee for the position of the director of national intelligence

shall have extensive national security expertise. What extensive national security expertise does he have?

Ma'am, you're asking me a question that's out of my lane. I'm so focused on making sure Americans are healthy that I had not been looking at what other

agencies.

Take that yes.

Now, Dr. Oz says that he trusts the president's judgment in appointing Mr. Pulte to this role.

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