Trump ERUPTS behind closed doors as top Republican pleads with him to axe Tulsi Gabbard's spy-chief replacement

By PHILLIP NIETO, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 21:57, 9 June 2026 | Updated: 21:59, 9 June 2026 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.'   The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.