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President Trump has appointed Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence following Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation last week. Trump announced the move in a Truth Social post Tuesday morning, and said Pulte would keep his existing jobs as chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as head of the Federal Housing and Finance Agency. “William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets, and over 10 Trillion Dollars at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, a substantial increase from where it was just 12 months ago,” Trump posted. It’s an odd choice for the sensitive position, which concerns foreign intelligence and would appear to require a military or intelligence background, which Pulte doesn’t have. Instead, he has built up a reputation of targeting Trump’s political enemies using his authority at the housing agency, and has become unpopular among Republican lawmakers for working his way into Trump’s inner circle. Last month, Pulte drew the attention of Democrats in Congress for a suspicious charity donation that may have funneled money into Trump’s pockets, and for sharing an AI image with the president depicting Trump as Jesus Christ. Trump then posted the image on his Truth Social platform, causing a backlash from across the political spectrum, particularly from Trump’s supporters on the Christian right.Pulte will now be holding a sensitive intelligence position while juggling  his other positions. It’s more evidence that Trump prizes loyalty above competence and experience, but could also indicate that Trump is planning a more sinister use of Pulte’s authority. Gabbard was involved in investigating election fraud conspiracies during her tenure as Director of National Intelligence, and Pulte could pick up where she left off. This story has been updated.

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President Trump went on a long Truth Social rant at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning after Michael Cohen—Trump’s former lawyer, who went to jail for his role in a hush-money payment to adult actress Stormy Daniels—said he was coerced into testifying against Trump on Michael Smerconish’s podcast.“When a Star Witness totally recants, and in every way reveals that he was pressured and coerced to give testimony, and when the Prosecutor admits that this Witness was the single reason that the case was brought, there was no other, how can that Case not be immediately dismissed,” Trump asked, suggesting that he should be retroactively forgiven for the 34 counts he was convicted of in 2024.“Michael Cohen has come out and unequivocally stated that the Radical Left Prosecutors, Tish James and Alvin Bragg, pressured and coerced him to testify against your favorite President, ME, when they made him the key player in their Political Witch Hunts,” Trump continued. “Now that his testimony is wiped away, and the unAmerican, Political Charade ‘Cases’ are even further discredited, they should be put out of their misery, and dismissed, once and for all.”It’s unclear how much begging and how many Truth Social tantrums it’ll take for anything Trump’s talking about here to actually happen. Cohen’s testimony—and the massive civil and criminal court losses that made Trump the very first felon in office—don’t just get “wiped away” because of a podcast.