‘He’s got the power and he’s using it’： Inside the mass firings by Trump’s intelligence chief

Dozens of intelligence officials are out of a job this morning after President Trump's new acting Director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte, terminated them this week. An intelligence official tells MSNOW that the individuals fired by the Trump administration are officials, quote, who they believe are deep state and who leadership alleges have not provided complete pictures of available intelligence. The latest move comes just two weeks after Pulte's takeover of the agency and his decision to cut six political appointees put in place by former Director Tulsi Gafford. Joining us now, MSNOW senior White House reporter Vaughn Hilliard, who is the co-writer of this reporting. Vaughn, welcome back to the weekend. It is so great to see you back from parental leave. Thank you, guys. He's always so happy. He really is. And the kid's being good, so it's pretty easy to be happy. Well, let's talk about somebody who's not being good. That's the director of the DNI, the acting director of the DNI. Talk more about your reporting, including I want to read more from you, from your story that came out yesterday with David Rhoad. Four former senior intelligence officials told MSNOW that they have had never heard of intelligence officials withholding information from officials above them. Quote, the premise is absurd, one of the former officials said. Another of the former officials questioned how Pulte, who has no experience working in intelligence, would be able to make such a determination so quickly. This is a moment where we, much like we watched Kash Patel, as Ken Delaney just reported, carrying out the orders and the desires of the presidents of the United States and on par with Jackie's reporting about it being a clear understanding across the administration that 2020 is very much on the mind of the president of the United States. Bill Pulte has come in in this acting capacity and the acting director or acting cabinet secretary, they have just as much power as somebody that is actually fully fudged confirmed by the Senate. He's got the power and he's using it. And that is where we were told that over the last 48 hours, these firings have begun. And the understanding among intelligence officials is that they're going to continue on in the days ahead over the mere allegation that individuals are part of the, quote, deep state here and that they are not providing a full picture of the intelligence that they believe that they have under their purview. Of course, whether they have actual intelligence that Donald Trump wants is very different than whether that intelligence actually exists. Do you guys have any reporting or huntress or you've been covering the Trump for for a long time, an understanding of how they're determining folks that have a deep state? Is it they look a certain way? Maybe they love a certain way. Maybe they have a rainbow flag. Maybe they worked on a maybe they're forced to work on something during the Biden administration that was about Trump. How are they digging into and getting rid of these people? That's a very good question and one that needs to be answered. And what my understanding is from a reporting is that it is the mere belief that these individuals have withheld. So I don't think so. Whoever there is no evidence that any of these individuals have gone through a process and sat before leadership and have been determined that they actually engaged in wrong doing. And that's where our David Road, who is bylined on this with me, talked to multiple former senior officials who made it clear that this was, in the words of one quote, absurd, because, number one, Bill Pulte would not be the one to even have the understanding of whether intelligence is being withheld or not, because the DNI's office oversees 18 intelligence agencies, including the NSA, the CIA. It would be those directors who would have the actual understanding of whether there is intelligence that exists, not Bill Pulte, who's been on the job for two weeks. But this is where it really calls into question understanding that Donald Trump last night on Donald Trump last night actually posted on True Social this article about this reporting. And so he's very much in tune with the actions of his cabinet members and whether they are fulfilling his desire and his wishes. And two weeks into the job as acting director, Bill Pulte's doing that. I thought meritocracy was back. This man don't know nothing about intelligence, but maybe it's not. Maybe only for certain people. And this reporting does also sort of perfectly illustrate some of the power, executive power, that the president has accumulated even over just the last few weeks between the Supreme Court slaughter decision and then also the changes that have been made to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which essentially allows Trump to fire civil servants, people who are outside of the political process with no recourse and no systems. And that sort of sounds like the process that you just described. But let's talk about what's going on in the mall today, because you are going to be doing us a solid and out there in the 100 degree weather. We did see your shirt underneath that blazer. You cut off the sleeve. No, I mean, the idea first is I volunteered for this. And I was like, you know, this would be nice for Hudson, who's three months old, and my husband to come on down. And then the president announced that he's coming, which just means Secret Service becomes involved. And then the fireworks show got pushed back to 11. And the pollution warnings. And the pollution warnings, the biggest fireworks show of all time. Ten times more than what is usual. There's concern. Yeah. Tell us about some of the issues going on that you've reported on this week as well. There is concern. We also reported out that there is concern among health experts about those plumes of smoke hovering over here. When we're talking about a world record, we're talking about 850,000 fireworks. And the typical mall experience has 30,000, 40,000 for a typical Fourth of July. So you're looking at really extravagant event here. But that is existing in 101 degree weather. We're expecting clouds later on today. Hopefully, nothing goes awry with the fireworks show and that actually the cloud. We're going to bring a mask. And this is where there's a lot of concern. The stage is falling apart. And look, this is a monumental event. The folks that are putting on this production, they are trying under the circumstances here. But you've got to convince people to come. And security measures with the president of the United States, the defense secretary, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, the speaker of the house, Mike Johnson, all being there. This is a huge event. As one agent told me, it's like bigger than a political convention. That's the type of apparatus that we're talking. I think it's remember when Trump had his birthday last year and almost no one came. We've seen him take over this July 4th event. At this point, no one's been coming. It's almost like Twitter excitement about him is not real life. I don't know. And this now is Vaughn Hilliard. He will be out today. Be safe, my friend. Happy birthday, America. And thank you guys for having me.