Earlier this month, Bill Pulte, the top federal housing official, visited the headquarters of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, getting a tour, meeting officials and preparing to take over as acting director, according to U.S. officials.
But this week, the intelligence community pivoted to welcome Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Clayton, who was scheduled to have a hearing before the Senate on Wednesday, received his own tour of the Virginia campus, Liberty Crossing, speaking to staff about his priorities and receiving an intelligence briefing.
The competing visits encapsulate the whiplash intelligence officials have felt this month as they have prepared for different leaders in the face of President Trump’s announcements and the strong opposition to Mr. Pulte from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
As the opposition to Mr. Pulte grew among Senate Republicans, who criticized his lack of experience and focus on Mr. Trump’s retribution agenda, Mr. Trump nominated Mr. Clayton. Some intelligence officials thought it possible Mr. Pulte might never set foot again in Liberty Crossing.
The intelligence community is now returning to Mr. Pulte after Mr. Trump said he was delaying Mr. Clayton’s nomination. With Mr. Trump pressuring Congress to pass an unpopular voter identification law before he pushes Mr. Clayton forward, Mr. Pulte again seems set to take over on Friday, when Tulsi Gabbard, the current director of national intelligence, is set to step down.
Both Republicans and Democrats have said that Mr. Pulte is unqualified for the post. That is in part because he lacks any national security experience. But more broadly, there is bipartisan concern about Mr. Pulte’s record since he joined Mr. Trump’s second administration.
Mr. Pulte has used his current post as the top federal housing official to help with Mr. Trump’s campaign of retribution against his political enemies.
Lawmakers are worried that with even a few days in the post as director of national intelligence, Mr. Pulte could find ways to weaponize the office, with selective declassifications of documents or searching for information on other officials the president does not like.
Administration figures have pushed back and said Mr. Pulte would use his time as acting director to further shrink the office, although Ms. Gabbard already made deep cuts. Mr. Clayton told intelligence officials on Monday that he, too, was looking to trim back the office.
Exactly what Mr. Pulte will seek to cut, and what documents he could seek to declassify, are not known.
Mr. Trump is also giving a new role to John Solomon, a journalist who has raised questions about the Russia investigations of the first Trump term. Mr. Solomon’s mandate is to push out more documents and reports relating to what Mr. Trump sees as abuses of law enforcement and intelligence. Some of those documents were released at the end of Mr. Trump’s first term. But others were held back at the insistence of the C.I.A., which feared that the identities of sources and methods of intelligence collection could be revealed. Mr. Pulte could review those documents again.
Ms. Gabbard herself has been willing to release documents, including a detailed report from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee that contained details of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. But those disclosures have focused on intelligence analysis, a far less sensitive matter than the details of collection.
Mr. Pulte may have a far broader mandate to release information in conjunction with his continuing work to pursue Mr. Trump’s enemies. As the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mr. Pulte used his position to raise allegations of faulty mortgage documents against Senator Adam Schiff and other officials.
Mr. Schiff, a California Democrat, was the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee when he served in the lower chamber. He incurred the wrath of Mr. Trump for leading an investigation into his ties to Russia as well as the first impeachment case against the president.
Mr. Trump’s allies have long accused Mr. Schiff of leaking, though they have provided no evidence. Mr. Schiff has denied the allegations of mortgage fraud and leaking, and no legal action has been taken against him.
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