WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has chosen federal housing regulator Bill Pulte, who has served as a political attack dog targeting Trump's perceived enemies, to serve as acting director of national intelligence.

Pulte, a businessman with ties to Michigan, lacks national security experience, which is required by federal statute for the role, prompting some critics to immediately question his qualifications and whether the president is trying to "politicize" intelligence.

"He appears to have been selected precisely because the White House believes he will provide the narrative it wants, not the intelligence we need," said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Trump said on social media that Pulte, 38, is to keep his roles as director of Federal Housing Finance Agency and the chair of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored housing giants that guarantee most mortgages in the U.S.

Pulte is in an acting capacity set to replace DNI Tulsi Gabbard, the former Hawaii congresswoman who said she's stepping down June 30 following her husband's diagnosis with cancer. He'd require confirmation by the Senate if Trump were to nominate him to permanently serve in the role of DNI, which oversees 18 agencies that make up the intelligence community in the United States.

"William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets, and over 10 Trillion Dollars at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, a substantial increase from where it was just 12 months ago," Trump wrote.

Pulte's time at FHFA has overlapped with Trump administration investigations into claims of mortgage fraud by the White House’s political adversaries, including prominent Democrats like New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff of California, and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, formerly of Michigan State University. Pulte has repeatedly highlighted and discussed the allegations against them.

Pulte was raised in Florida and was most recently a resident of Boca Raton. But his grandfather, William Pulte, founded the home construction company PulteGroup in 1950 in Detroit.

PulteGroup, one of the country's largest homebuilding businesses, moved its headquarters from Bloomfield Hills to Georgia in 2014.

Pulte has said he joined his grandfather's company, PulteGroup, during what he described as a "difficult" period of poor management to revitalize it with others and said the firm is now more than three times the size it was when he stepped in.

Pulte's bio also includes time spent working with the nonprofit Blight Authority, in partnership with then-Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, to clear abandoned homes and structures in the city.

"Every kid should be able to walk safely to school and not worry about ... being dragged into a dangerous building," Pulte said during a hearing last year.

As part of an ethics agreement, Pulte was required last year to step down from multiple entities in which he held positions, including Pulte Capital Partners LLC and Pulte Family Office, both investment firms, as well as his roles as chairman or president of the nonprofits Blight Authority and Team Pulte, and several other software, holding and HVAC companies.

Prior to joining the Trump administration, Pulte made a name for himself as a philanthropist on social media, where he's given away money to individuals in need. He claimed that he has contributed millions of dollars to families facing foreclosure or utility shutoffs.

Unlike kids who spent their weekends growing up at sporting events, Pulte has said he went on visits to homebuilding job sites with his father and grandfather.

"From the ground up, I learned every aspect of housing, whether it was cleaning job sites, assisting in construction or helping sell homes. From an early age, I developed a deep passion for home ownership and putting a roof over people's heads," Pulte said.

During his confirmation process last year, Pulte faced criticism from Democrats such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who excoriated Pulte for refusing to say he'd prevent Trump allies from privatizing Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Warren was also unhappy that Pulte refused to turn over 25,000 tweets that he deleted after the 2024 election, and which Warren had requested copies of.

Pulte contributed heavily to Republican causes in 2024, including the Republican National Committee and to Trump's campaign.

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—Staff writer Craig Mauger contributed to this story.

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