Bill Pulte, the acting director of national intelligence, has installed as his chief of staff a woman who worked on election-related issues for the Republican National Committee, according to former U.S. officials.
Christina Norton, the former R.N.C. official, has also served as Bill Pulte’s chief of staff at the federal housing agency he leads. But much of her recent work for the G.O.P. has centered on election issues, including efforts to monitor voting sites during the 2024 presidential election.
Mr. Pulte’s decision to put Ms. Norton in the powerful post is likely to further fuel concerns among Democrats, intelligence officials and state and local election administrators that he intends to focus on hunting for evidence of election fraud at the behest of President Trump.
Mr. Trump has said Mr. Pulte is expected to work on election security matters, prompting fears by some officials that he could try to influence the midterm elections. Other officials expect him to declassify documents related to issues that have preoccupied Mr. Trump, including the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
While at the R.N.C., Ms. Norton oversaw a poll watcher program that included conservative conspiracy theorists, including Jack Posobiec, who helped spread the false “Pizzagate” stories about child abuse at a restaurant in Washington.
In a statement, Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said the mission of Mr. Pulte’s office was to counter foreign threats and not to “import election denialism into the intelligence community.”
“If reports are true that Bill Pulte, whose installation as acting D.N.I. already raises serious legal questions, is bringing a former senior R.N.C. official who cavorted with election deniers and conspiracy theories into O.D.N.I. as his chief of staff, Americans have every reason to fear that this administration is once again eroding the wall between our intelligence agencies and domestic elections,” Mr. Warner said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Pulte’s office did not return a request for comment.
Ms. Norton is a Florida native and has also previously worked for several Republican candidates for office, including Senator Rick Scott in his successful bid for that state’s governor and Jeb Bush during his failed 2016 presidential effort, according to an online biography.
On Thursday evening, she attended the intelligence agency’s party celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, according to an attendee.
“My message was simple, we are focusing DNI on being an apolitical intelligence agency that gives the President the best intel and operates based on the law and the statute,” Mr. Pulte said on social media about the party.
Mr. Pulte took the reins of the spy agency last week after Mr. Trump tapped him to replace Tulsi Gabbard, who stepped down after announcing last month that her husband is battling cancer. Mr. Pulte’s selection prompted furious opposition from Democrats as well as some Republicans in the Senate who accused Mr. Trump of elevating a political loyalist with no relevant experience to a top national security job.
Democrats have also feared that Mr. Pulte is planning mass firings. He cut some positions during his first week on the job, though so far fewer than critics anticipated.
Alexandra Berzon and Nicholas Corasaniti contributed reporting.
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