Acting Director of National Intelligence Can Declassify Any Records, Including on the 2020 Election

Articles | July 1, 2026 | by Catholics for Catholics

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President Donald Trump said the new director has carte blanche to do that.

By Catholics for Catholics

Bill Pulte, the new Acting Director of National Intelligence would be in his role for “a month or two months or something” and is invested to “declassify almost everything,” President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, the president’s nominee for the full-time DNI post, is scheduled to be held in two weeks, Trump said, according to a story by Newsmax.

Trump appointed Pulte as acting director of national intelligence last month, putting a political loyalist ‌with no national security experience at a time of war ​and global tensions.

After a partisan backlash over his pick, Trump later nominated Jay Clayton, the top U.S. attorney for Manhattan, but then abruptly ⁠postponed Clayton’s confirmation hearing in an effort to force Congress to pass ​a strict voter identification bill.

“Bill’s there, just, you know, for maybe a month ⁠or two months or something,” Trump told reporters as he departed Joint Base Andrews for an event in North Dakota. “But while he’s there, I said, ‘You can declassify whatever you want’.”

Asked if ‌that included records related to the 2020 election, Trump added: “I told ​him you could ‌do it, it’s fair. You got to ask him.”

President Donald Trump says Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte has broad authority to declassify intelligence records, saying, “He can declassify whatever he wants and as quickly as he wants.”

Watch OAN on Spectrum and YouTube TV for updates. pic.twitter.com/xi3AejlDCi

— One America News (@OANN) July 1, 2026

Trump won the second White House term in the ‌2024 election after losing in 2020. Since his loss, the President has long claimed prevalent fraud in U.S. elections.

Congress is in recess for ‌the July ​4 holiday and no ‌hearing was listed on the Senate Intelligence panel’s website.

Pulte currently leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency but will also remain as ODNI until ​Clayton is approved by the Senate. Pulte has reportedly already moved to cut hundreds of intelligence jobs.