President Trump Responds to Media and Congressional Criticism over Acting DNI Bill Pulte Appointment

June 4, 2026 | Sundance |

During an oval office presser to highlight new clean coal initiatives, President Trump was asked about the interim appointment of Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence.

The UniParty congress and DC stakeholder guardians in media have collectively been having fits about appointing Pulte as acting DNI. One of the main reasons for the apoplexy is a little understood aspect to DC that many people do not fully appreciate.

The Intelligence Community is upstream from most visible political events, and the IC control the Lawfare operations (investigations and prosecutions) as well as the behavior of congressional representatives in both the House and the Senate. The latter part of this reality was what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was referencing when he said, “the intelligence community has six ways from Sunday to get back at you,” should you question or challenge their power and control.

President Trump responded to the media question about the Pulte appointment by reminding everyone it is an interim appointment while ¹interviews for other candidates are taking place. WATCH:

'It's Not A Permanent Position': Trump Asked Point Blank About Pushback Against Bill Pulte As DNI

2:11

https://youtu.be/Kl1b4k9hFO0

¹Positioning for potential placement in this critical position has likely taken on new levels of interest as the intelligence system -thanks to Gabbard- now sees just how powerful an actively engaged DNI could be. There are multiple names likely in the mix, hopefully the white house advisors to President Trump remain disciplined, pragmatic and accept the value highlighted by the effectiveness of DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s approach.

[Unfortunately, history does not favor my optimism]

California State Assembly member James Gallagher (R) won a special election on Tuesday, adding one more Republican to the House. [Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R) died in January] This gives a slight boost to the Republican majority in the House and could provide a window for current HPSCI Chairman Rick Crawford to be considered.

IMHO with Aaron Lucas remaining as Deputy DNI, ideologically Crawford is probably the best replacement option. Former HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes is also a possibility, but considerations there get a little more complicated.

¹Positioning for potential placement in this critical position has likely taken on new levels of interest as the intelligence system -thanks to Gabbard- now sees just how powerful an actively engaged DNI could be. There are multiple names likely in the mix, hopefully the white house advisors to President Trump remain disciplined, pragmatic and accept the value highlighted by the effectiveness of DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s approach.

[Unfortunately, history does not favor my optimism]

California State Assembly member James Gallagher (R) won a special election on Tuesday, adding one more Republican to the House. [Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R) died in January] This gives a slight boost to the Republican majority in the House and could provide a window for current HPSCI Chairman Rick Crawford to be considered.

IMHO with Aaron Lucas remaining as Deputy DNI, ideologically Crawford is probably the best replacement option. Former HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes is also a possibility, but considerations there get a little more complicated.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/06/04/president-trump-responds-to-media-and-congressional-criticism-over-acting-dni-bill-pulte-appointment/#more-284061

Pulte really scares the shit out of them

https://youtu.be/Kl1b4k9hFO0

Eric Daugherty

@EricLDaugh

🚨IT'S OFFICIAL: The US Supreme Court could be on the verge of STRIKING DOWN California's "election month" and late mail-in ballot shenanigans

A case has ALREADY BEEN HEARD and multiple states' mail-in laws may be null and void soon. MAKE IT HAPPEN🔥

"There is a Supreme Court case pending. Right now the courts already heard it. We're waiting at this end of the term in June. We get all of these last decisions. The big ones. This one came out of Mississippi and it deals with a state law that says how long you can count ballots after Election Day."

"If they're postmarked what the grace period is there…it's certainly something that could be a big resounding ripple effect across the country based on what they decide Mississippi."

Eric Daugherty

@EricLDaugh

·Jun 5

🚨JUST IN: Democrats are strongly GAINING on Steve Hilton and Spencer Pratt in the California mail-in ballots, "WEEKS" of counting might remain

The Supreme Court should BAN "ELECTION MONTH" and do it before the midterms.

CALIFORNIA IS A DISGRACE TO THE NATION!

They BREED

10:16 AM · Jun 5, 2026

·

932.2K

Views

https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2062901312631583126?s=20

Protesters boo new Hungarian PM over EU migration pact (VIDEO)

Demonstrators claim Peter Magyar secretly agreed to Brussels’ asylum framework in exchange for the release of frozen funds

Published 6 Jun, 2026 10:20

Protesters marched through central Budapest on Friday, chanting “traitor” as they denounced Prime Minister Peter Magyar over the EU Migration Pact.

When Magyar appeared on a balcony of his Tisza party’s headquarters waving a Hungarian flag,the crowd booed and chanted “Dirty Tisza,” demanding his resignation, local media have reported. Magyar later estimated the crowd at about 1,000 people.

Demonstrators claim the Prime Minister, who assumed office last month,secretly agreed to implement the pact in exchange for billions in EU funds, speculation that intensified after he and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a political agreement on May 29 to unlock the €16.4 billion.

The funds had been frozen since 2022, when the Commission accused then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government of corruption and rule-of-law violations.Orban, a long-time critic of EU policies on issues such as migration and Ukraine aid, accused Brussels of political blackmail.

Critics also allege that the deal would require Hungary to build a migrant transit facility for 8,000–10,000 people near its southern border.

Magyar has repeatedly stated that Hungary “will not accept any pact or allocation mechanism” on asylum and migration. However, Hungarian media have noted he has remained largely silent on the issue in recent weeks. According to Hungary Today, one condition tied to the release of EU funds is believed to be a reversal of Orban’s opposition to the pact.

Following the protest, Magyar dismissed the demonstrators on Facebook as “frenzied, inarticulate, shouting fellow citizens,”arguing they were effectively protesting EU funds allocated to Hungary.

The pact establishes a common EU framework for migration and asylum procedures. It introduces a system of “mandatory solidarity,” under which each member state is obliged to either accept a certain number of migrants, provide operational support, or pay €20,000 ($23,000) per person they refuse to take in.

The legislation has been controversial across the bloc, with Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia also rejecting the pact’s solidarity principle.

The EU has grappled with mass immigration for more than a decade, following the conflicts in Libya and Syria and, more recently, the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, which triggered successive waves of arrivals numbering in the millions.

https://www.rt.com/news/641111-protest-hungarian-pm-eu-migration/

‘Secret’ talks in Kiev, Zelensky’s letter, China and economic resilience: Putin at SPIEF 1/3

The president revealed that an unnamed Russian businessman was in Kiev for talks before Ukrainian forces killed 21 Russian students at a college dorm

Published 5 Jun, 2026 12:13 | Updated

Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken part in a plenary session at this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, wherehe revealed that Kiev requested talks through a Russian businessman, only to kill dozens of Russian teenage girls the following day.

During a 45-minute speech and a two-hour questions and answers panel, Putin discussed economic policy, the conflict in Ukraine, and Russia’s deepening relations with China, India, and their BRICS partners.

Here’s what you need to know.

Zelensky’s letter

During the Q&A session,Putin publicly responded to a recent letter from Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, in which Zelensky insulted Putin, threatened Russia with more drone strikes, and then invited Putin to so-called peace talks.

Putin picked the letter apart, questioning Zelensky’s insistence that the EU – and not the US – should provide Ukraine with security guarantees, and pressing the Ukrainian leader on his refusal to hold elections and “usurpation” of power since his term expired in 2024.

Russia is always ready for serious negotiations, he declared,adding that he would not meet Zelensky “just for the sake of meeting.” Putin noted that the last time Russia entered negotiations with Ukraine and its European backers in good faith, the resulting Minsk agreements “were about one thing: that is saving more time for the rearmament of Ukraine.Why would we need anything like this once again?”

Secret talks in Kiev

Putin revealed for the first time that an unnammed businessman called him last month and said that he had been invited to Kiev to meet with Zelensky's officials. Kiev used themeeting as a backchannel to request a sit-down with Putin, but Ukrainian forces struck a college dormitory in Lugansk with multiple waves of kamikaze drones a day later, killing 21 people, mainly teenage girls.

”I asked him, what does it mean? They are asking for a meeting, and they carry out such atrocious, blatant attacks as the killing of children,” Putin recalled his conversation with the businessman after the attack. “They said ‘I've got no explanation’.”

Referring back to the letter, Putin determined thatinstead of trying “to create an environment for a personal meeting,”Zelensky’s letter wasmeant “to make sure that no personal meetings can take place at all.”

Russian sovereignty

Throughout his speech and his comments afterwards,Putin repeatedly referred to the concept of sovereignty. Cut off from Western financial and trade institutions, Russia was forced to adapt, on the battlefield and in the economic arena.

”Sovereignty implies being smarter and being stronger,” and not just “the capability to oppose external pressure,” Putin said. “This is about the quality of the government, the economy, and society.”

Putin also reminded Ukraine that sovereignty is essential for military victory. “You have to have your own industrial base for a defense industry. You have to have your own scientific base and your own resource base,” he said. “Russia has all of that. So the sooner those who are fighting us understand that, the better it's going to be for them.

https://www.rt.com/russia/641042-putin-forum-plenary-speech/

>>24686236

2/3

China and India are ‘strategic partners’

Sovereignty also involves partnerships with like-minded friends, Putin pointed out. Whereas trade between Eurasian nations like Russia and China was once based on “the settlements, logistics, insurance, [and] arbitration” mechanisms governed from “a handful of Western infrastructure hubs,”Moscow and its BRICS partners are building alternative mechanisms.

From now on, Russia will only cooperate with partners – like India and China – “that honor mutual reciprocal obligations and commitments,” he added, before calling on these countries to develop their own financial and technological sectors.

“Russia has learned its lesson,” he said. “We saw that certain suppliers of software left the market. We saw payments blocked. We saw how politics interferes within commercial relations.”

The balance of power is shifting toward the BRICS group, Putin noted, pointing out that BRICS nations account for 49% of global growth over the last five years, while “the contribution of the so-called Group of Seven (G7) is estimated at 18%.”

05 June 2026

17:57 GMT

After three hours, that's a wrap on the plenary session. Live updates are now finished, but stay with RT for more news, updates, and analysis from the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

17:55 GMT

Sovereignty wins on the battlefield too, Putin reminds Ukraine:

=•”You have to have your own industrial base for a defense industry. You have to have your own scientific base and your own resource base,” he says. “Russia has all of that==. So the sooner those who are fighting us understand that, the better it's going to be for them.”

17:50 GMT

Putin has said that if US President Donald Trump had been in office in 2022, the situation in Ukraine “would have turned out differently,” adding that he respects Trump and is grateful for his efforts to bring an end to hostilities. Key issues, however, “must still be resolved directly between Russia and Ukraine,” while the US and other countries can help create conditions and act as guarantors, according to the Russian president.

Trump has repeatedly blamed the Ukraine conflict on his predecessor, Joe Biden, and claimed during his 2024 campaign that he could end it quickly.

Drones are the “new reality” of warfare,but Putin points out one key weakness in Ukraine’s drone-reliant military: “they are supplied to Ukraine from the Western states. In Ukraine,they are only assembled.”

“Although it seems that they try to engineer some of these drones themselves. They're not very successful in that.”

Ukraine’s domestic drone industry has scaled up dramatically since 2022,but it’s also a hotbed of corruption, run by companies that over-promise, under-deliver, and enrich Zelensky’s inner circle. RT covered some of the graft at the country’s biggest defense contractor, Fire Point, in our ‘ State of Corruption’ series.

17:20 GMT

Putin has accused Ukrainian forces of having “completely lost their minds” by striking the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, saying they hit “right at the reactor,”which is currently shut down. The damage to spent‑fuel storage could spread radiation and it is “by no means certain” any fallout would drift toward Russia, Putin said, warning it could instead reach the EU and that the bloc’s member states backing Kiev “should think carefully about their own security.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/641042-putin-forum-plenary-speech/

>>24686244

3/3

Europe’s largest nuclear plant has come under fire multiple times since Russia took control of the facility in March 2022., including a recent drone hit on the sixth unit’s machine hall that Rosatom called Kiev’s first “deliberate attack” on key equipment – an incident Ukraine denies.

16:59 GMT

Russia must keep strengthening its air defenses to protect its territory, Putin says, adding: “we have to do everything to ensure the security of the Russian Federation.” He noted that, unlike Ukraine, Russia has the full capabilities to develop its own systems, while the country’s industry and defense science are able to fully equip the military with the tools to counter Ukraine’s drones.

___16:44 GMT__

Putin says he has not seen any provocations from Iran that would justify US strikes, adding that Russia hopes the current truce between Washington and Tehran will lead to a lasting peace.He stressed that Moscow is ready to work with all sides to help move toward a settlement, adding that Russia’s earlier proposal to remove enriched uranium from Iran remains on the table.

16:36 GMT

Putin is bullish on trade with New Delhi, announcing that Russian oil giant Rosneft has invested around $25 billion into a refinery, a port, and gas stations in India. Russia is also working on new technology sharing agreements, he adds.

Russia’s relations with India are “trust-based, brotherly relations in all senses of the word,”Putin says. “We know how talented the Indian people are, how well educated. Indians have great competencies which have achieved world renown, especially in coding and in other fields.”

16:01 GMT

The West called the idea of denazifying Ukraine “ridiculous,” but Zelensky’s reburial with honors of Nazi collaborator Andrey Melnik proves that the idea is “not ridiculous at all,”Putin says.

Melnik, who co-founded the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), was reburied in Ukraine with full state honors last month, in a ceremony attended by Zelensky and his top officials. The OUN and its armed wing, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), massacred around 100,000 Poles and Jews in what is now western Ukraine during the Second World War.

“Just think about it,” Putin tells the audience. “Millions of children and women were killed, burned alive, and those criminals are getting their reburial ceremony with all the owners, and the head of Kiev regime is present there, saluting them, turning the Nazi criminals into heroes. This is what we are fighting against.”

15:49 GMT

Putin says he won’t be meeting Zelensky, and he shouldn’t even be addressing him. “The ones to be addressed are our combatants, our soldiers at the line of contact,” he says, telling them “the country is proud of you and places its hopes on you.”

Putin endswith an iconic Russian military catchphrase: “Работайте, братья!” (“Work, brothers!”)

https://www.rt.com/russia/641042-putin-forum-plenary-speech/

‘RELENTLESS’: Patel reveals FBI’s fight against violent crime

FBI Director Kash Patel discusses the Trump administration’s efforts to combat violent crime, the DOJ’s indictment of the SPLC and more on ‘Saturday in America.’

10:47

https://youtu.be/uxwk1PpSVf8

Vanilla Ice 'HONORED' to perform at Freedom 250: 'WHO THROWS A BETTER PARTY?'

Rapper Vanilla Ice discusses his plans to perform at the Freedom 250 concert, his love for America and more on ‘Saturday in America.

4:31

https://youtu.be/bzYYqwtYj48

‘Military secret’ about Oreshnik and ‘death’ of Russian economy: Key takeaways from Putin’s Q&A 1/2

The Russian president answered questions on domestic and foreign policy at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

Published 4 Jun, 2026 22:31

Russian President Vladimir Putin fielded questions from the heads of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday.The agencies included Chinese, Belarusian, German, French, Spanish, and Iranian state news outlets, as well as representatives of Reuters and AP.

The mammoth Q&A session lasted just over two hours and touched on a variety of subjects, including Russian domestic and foreign policy, the Ukraine conflict, and potential routes to rapprochement with Europe.

Here are the main topics discussed.

The Russian economy

Asked whether Russia can withstand the economic strain caused by the Ukraine conflict and Western sanctions, Putin cited Mark Twain: “Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

Despite claims in the West claiming thatRussia’s economy has been “torn to shreds,” it has grown more than three times faster than that of the EUover the past three years, he said.

Russia has been forced to make “tough decisions” to battle inflation, such as raising interest rates,but the “measures are yielding results,” Putin stated, addingthat industrial production and real incomes have continued to grow.

In terms ofpurchasing power parity, the measure of how much the same basket of goods costs in different countries,Russia has surpassed all European countries, he said.

The Ukraine conflict

The Russian Army is advancing along the entire line of contact, whileUkraine is facing a critical lack of manpower, Putin said.

“Monthly, they lose around 40,000 people,”the president said, adding that civilians are being “caught on the street like dogs” and drafted into the army.Kiev also loses around 20,000 more people to desertion each month, he added.

“Ukraine has no air defense system, only isolated elements, and lacks the strike systems that Russia possesses.Ukraine, unlike Russia, lacks hypersonic and cruise missiles,” he added.

https://www.rt.com/russia/641022-putin-ukraine-oreshnik-press/

>>24686339

2/2

‘State secret’ about Oreshnik

Russia did not use its Oreshnik dual-capable intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile “in the full sense” in strikes on Ukrainian territory.

“We have not had a single combat use of the Oreshnik in the full sense of the word on Ukrainian territory,” Putin said, noting that Russia has “tested similar systems at training grounds, but not the Oreshnik.”

Russia has confirmed three separate strikes on Ukraine using the missile, which is designed to carry both nuclear and conventional warheads: against a defense industry facility in Dnepr in late 2024, a warplane plant in Lviv in January, and an unspecified target that critics called a “shed”in Belaya Tserkov near Kiev in May.

“Last time, to be completely honest –I’ll reveal to you a big military state secret – we just hit where it was convenient for us to see the results,” Putin said, adding that Russian drones later flew into the “shed” to observe dispersal and impact effects. “It’s important for us to make decisions in the future on the full-scale useof Oreshnik against designated targets, including in urban areas.”

Is peace any closer?

Russia is ready for a peaceful settlement of the conflict,provided that it is based on the compromises agreed on with US President Donald Trump in Anchorage last year, Putin said.

The difficulty lies in forcing Kiev to accept the terms, he stated, adding that control of Donbass and other territories that voted to join Russia and a peace deal “do not contradict each other.”

“I get the impression that the ruling circles are not actually interested in a real cessation of hostilities,” he said, stressing that negotiationsshould not be predicated on a ceasefire that will only allow Ukraine to rearm and regroup.

Is Zelensky legitimate?

Putin declined to directly answerwhether Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky could serve as a legitimate representative for signing a peace treaty, calling it “a question for lawyers.”

“We can only sign with people who are, without a doubt, in the full sense of the word, legitimate to sign documentsof this kind,” he stressed. Zelensky’s presidential term expired in May 2024, and discussions of new elections in Ukraine have since stalled.

Kiev’s European backers

The EU could potentially play “a positive role” in settling the conflict, Putin said. “But not by supplying weapons.Rather, by trying to convince the Kiev authorities to agree to the compromises we discussed.”

However, European nations have so far shown no willingness to even talk to Russia as equals, Putin said.

“If there is a desire among the European side to work with us,they must abandon their colonial approach and talk to Russia as an equal partner.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/641022-putin-ukraine-oreshnik-press/

Graham Platner’s troubles grow in Maine, and Democrats are increasingly nervous

(How stupid are the leaders in Maine are?)

BY

MUELLER 06/06/26 10:17 AM

Democrats are questioning whether Graham Platner, the oyster farmer turned Maine Senate candidate, is quickly becoming a liability in one of the most important races in the upper chamber.

To win back the Senate majority, Democrats almost certainly need to see Platner defeat Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is running to save her seat in a tough year for Republicans, particularly in a state President Trump has repeatedly lost.

For weeks, Democrats have felt relatively good about Platner, who was ahead of Collins in the polls.

But as he hits controversy after controversy, the Democratic anxieties are mounting.

Just in the last week, Platner confronted revelations surrounding sexually explicit messages he sent to women while married. He traveled to Washington to meet with Democratic senators amid the news of the controversial text messages.

Democratic senators hoped there would be no more revelations; instead, The New York Times published a story Thursday evening in which several former girlfriends of Platner cast him in a negative light.

The election in Maine was supposed to be a referendum on Collins, a moderate Republican who has served in the Senate for five terms, at least in the view of Democrats.

They are now worried it may become a referendum on Platner.

“And there’s no way he’s going to win a referendum on himself,” Democratic strategist Joel Payne said. “He’s got to make sure that when Maine voters go to the ballot, they ask, ‘Am I really comfortable with Susan Collins for another six years?'”

“They’ve lost the thread on that,” Payne added.

Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who said he was “utterly exasperated” by the state of events, put it this way: “I’m glad I don’t live in Maine, and there are 5 other viable pick-up opportunities,” referring to other races in states like North Carolina and Ohio.

The Times report spotlighted several women who suggested his behavior had been problematic during past relationships. The outlet reported that Lyndsey Fifield, a Virginia conservative who said she dated Platner from 2013 to 2015, recalled that he would discuss violence and could be rough with her, though she emphasized that he did not hit or punch her.

Fifield also alleged to the Times that Platner knew before controversy swelled last year that his now-covered tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol, telling the outlet that Platner referred to the tattoo as “my Totenkopf.”

Platner vehemently denied “anything alleging physicality” and “anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was” in remarks to MS NOW about the Times’s reporting.

“In this piece, there’s a lot about my struggling, not being a good boyfriend, certainly self-medicating with alcohol, and I’ve been very upfront since the beginning of this campaign that that was a pretty dark period of my life after I came back from my combat service,” Platner told MS NOW.

“There are things in this that I absolutely will take responsibility for, and have been speaking about openly for months now, but those serious allegations are just not true,” he added.

Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, responded earlier this week to the sexting scandal, calling the media’s coverage “shameful” while vowing that she was standing by her husband.

A report from the Maine Monitor and the Bangor Daily News this week also raised questions about a claim Platner made about his past schooling. He said in October that he attended private schooling because his public school lost accreditation around 1999, but the report found the school has been accredited since 1987. A spokesperson told the outlet that Platner misspoke.

The growing pile of issues could threaten voter trust in a critical election.

“He’s always saying ‘it was a bad period of my life.’ Well, you know, that doesn’t play as well about things that have happened in the last three or four years,” said Jim Melcher, a professor of political science at the University of Maine at Farmington.

It’s also “a gift” to Collins’s campaign, though “it’s way too soon to say whether or not it’s going to hurt him in the general election,” Melcher said, suggesting that the controversy has in some ways made Platner’s supporters “even more dedicated.” …

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5912752-democrat-concerns-platner-liabilities/amp/