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Donald Trump has rebuffed House Speaker Mike Johnson's plea to drop his pick to replace Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.
The President waved off warnings that his controversial choice, Bill Pulte, could drive Democrats to block the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the spy authority set to expire soon.
Pulte's elevation to the post has drawn anger from lawmakers in both parties over his lack of national security experience.
Johnson met with Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon, pressing him to consider a different nominee in a bid to ease the Democratic opposition threatening FISA's renewal.
The meeting, however, 'didn't go very well,' with Trump pushing back on Johnson's suggestion that he needed to placate Democrats, according to Politico.
Johnson told reporters the briefing with the President went well but wouldn't go into specifics, before criticizing Democrats for holding FISA powers 'hostage.'
Intelligence officials consider FISA one of their most valuable tools for tracking foreign threats, and warn that a lapse would leave agencies in the dark on terrorist networks, spies and cyber adversaries.
The Daily Mail has contacted the White House for comment.
The President waved off warnings that his controversial choice, Bill Pulte, could drive Democrats to block the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Trump has rebuffed House Speaker Mike Johnson's plea to drop his pick to replace Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence
Pulte's elevation to the post has drawn anger from lawmakers in both parties over his lack of national security experience
Pulte is replacing Tulsi Gabbard who resigned last month due to her husband's rare bone cancer
Gabbard announced in May that she would be resigning from Trump's cabinet due to her husband's rare bone cancer.
Trump elevated Pulte, a longtime aide and current director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as her replacement.
The President, however, does not plan to formally nominate Pulte, who will instead serve on an acting basis.
Installing him temporarily lets the White House sidestep congressional scrutiny, since an acting appointment does not require Senate confirmation.
'You're less shackled,' Trump said last week when discussing Pulte's status. 'It sort of gives you more power, you know, for a somewhat limited period of time.'
Trump added that he plans for Pulte to purge the intelligence community of holdovers from the Obama and Biden administrations.
The President told Pulte that the 18 agencies, including the CIA and FBI, that he now oversees are 'unnecessary and/or too big.'
Trump told the Wall Street Journal: 'I'd like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn't be there.'
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