Donald Trump has urged a controversial loyalist he installed as the country’s top intelligence official to fire “a lot of people” overseeing intelligence for the US federal government.
The US president said Bill Pulte, who has no previous experience in the intelligence sphere, is “less shackled” because he has only been appointed director of national intelligence temporarily.
Amid bipartisan concern over his appointment, Trump has told Pulte that he believes the office of the director of national intelligence – which oversees more than a dozen intelligence agencies and departments – is “unnecessary and/or too big”, the president told the Wall Street Journal.
“I’d like to see it smaller,” Trump told the Journal. “I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there.”
Asked whether he was calling on Pulte to fire people, Trump replied that he wants his ally to “start the process”, adding that whoever he nominates to take the job permanently can continue it.
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