Donald J. Trump highlights firing of dozens of intelligence officials by acting DNI Bill Pulte
Bill Pulte sent termination notices to dozens of intelligence officials on Thursday, targeting those the administration considers “deep state” employees.
WHITE HOUSE — Donald J. Trump highlighted the firing of dozens of intelligence officials by acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte by mentioning the source (see cnbc) on a Truth Social post on July 3, 2026 at 6:50 PM EST.
Here is the full post (see truthsocial): “Acting DNI Pulte fires dozens of intelligence officials: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/03/acting-dni-pulte-fires-dozens-of-intelligence-officials-ms-now.html”
Bill Pulte sent termination notices on Thursday to dozens of intelligence officials, MS Now reported. An intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told MS Now the administration was removing officials “who they believe are deep state” and who have allegedly failed to provide complete intelligence assessments (see cnbc).
The White House and the office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to requests for comment on Friday (see cnbc).
Pulte assumed the interim role on June 19, 2026, after Donald J. Trump tapped him to lead the spy agency following Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation in May. Trump said in early June that he wanted Pulte to “start the process” of firing large numbers of DNI employees (see cnbc). CNN first reported last month that Pulte had already eliminated several political appointees who served under Gabbard (see cbsnews.com).
The office of the Director of National Intelligence oversees 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency. The widespread dismissals raise questions about the stability of intelligence operations and the capacity for uninterrupted intelligence gathering and analysis (see theguardian.com).
Trump’s decision to install Pulte drew sharp bipartisan criticism from members of Congress. Pulte also serves as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and has used that position to investigate opponents of Trump for alleged mortgage fraud (see cnbc). Trump announced Jay Clayton, the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as his permanent pick for DNI. The Senate scheduled a confirmation hearing for June 17, but Trump scuttled the effort by instructing Clayton not to attend in a Truth Social post hours before the hearing (see cnbc).
The firings could disrupt ongoing U.S. intelligence operations and analysis at a time when global threats demand sustained attention (see anews.com.tr). National security experts have questioned whether the removal of experienced officials will leave critical gaps in the intelligence community’s ability to assess threats and brief policymakers (see rsn.org).
In the last 30 days, 12 of 509 Trump posts on Truth Social addressed the topic of government reform.
Source: Zenger real-time database of all Truth Social posts.
Note: Chart generated on July 3, 2026 at 6:59 PM EST
Source: Zenger analysis
Note: Table generated by https://zenger.news on July 3, 2026 at 6:59 PM EST