Republican opposition to President Donald Trump’s pick for the role of spy chief has exposed a troubling pattern for the administration, his longtime biographer says.
Author Michael Wolff said Trump’s choice of Bill Pulte as his Director of National Intelligence has GOP senators questioning whether they can continue to greenlight Trump’s controversial Cabinet appointees without sacrificing their own credibility with voters.
“I think it is that Trump’s low-rent lackeys and incompetents now are challenging every Republican senator’s credibility,” he told Inside Trump’s Head co-host, Joanna Coles.
“I think when this administration began, the new president gets the benefit of the doubt,” Wolff said, noting that Trump was able to push through even his more outlandish Cabinet secretaries, with the exception of the scandal-scarred Matt Gaetz, who ended up leaving Washington entirely.
Even Trump’s other controversial appointees, like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., were able to squeak through the Senate confirmation process despite the apprehension of several Republicans.
Now, Wolff believes Pulte is more likely to suffer the same fate as Gaetz—or will at least test the MAGA loyalty of top GOP lawmakers.
“Almost each and every one of the senior Trump appointments—how do we characterize them? As lackeys and incompetents,” Wolff said.
“Almost everybody in the Senate, especially Republican senators, has had to reevaluate the votes that they’ve cast for these people and has had to reluctantly take responsibility for putting these lackeys, incompetents, and completely unfit people in the job,” he continued. “That is a pattern. That’s there. And this has become a separate political issue for Trump.”
Pulte, 38, has long been one of Trump’s most loyal attack dogs. On Tuesday, the president rewarded him by announcing that he would helm the intelligence office—despite having no experience in intelligence—while continuing to serve as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
The announcement immediately drew bipartisan pushback. Even Republican lawmakers pointed out that Pulte lacks experience in national security and intelligence. He requires Senate confirmation to remain in the position permanently, but he has already been granted a security clearance to serve as acting director.
“Very few Senate-confirmable positions come with statutory eligibility requirements. There are good reasons why the Director of National Intelligence is one of them,” Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell said in a statement this week. “Anyone performing this role of such immense public trust must have the extensive national security experience required by statute, and no nominee who falls short of this requirement will earn my vote.”
“The best I can tell you is he’s not qualified, but I don’t know anything about him other than that,” Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy said.
Just days after making his announcement, Trump said Pulte would serve in an acting capacity, telling reporters that “I don’t think he’d want to be permanent.”
The White House also published a press release fawning over Pulte, arguing that he “has a track record of transforming inefficient bureaucracies, protecting critical American assets, and confronting entrenched interests—exactly the outsider leadership needed to ensure our nation’s intelligence agencies focus on their core mission.”
Wolff said the president’s eyebrow-raising appointments are adding to his tall pile of political problems.
“All of these people are lackeys and incompetents, and that is among the central issues facing the Trump White House: the economy, the war, healthcare, is this new issue of lackeys and incompetents that surrounds him?” he asked. “So there’s backlash. People have to say, ‘We’re gonna be held responsible for this.’ Bill Pulte. I guess that’s the question: how do we justify this?”
