President Trump told reporters on July 1, 2026 that Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte has the green light to declassify almost anything while he holds the post.
Trump made the comments in a press gaggle before boarding a flight to North Dakota.
His words were plain: Pulte is there for a fairly short period, and while he is there, Trump told him he can declassify whatever he wants.
That is a massive instruction to give a man now sitting atop the intelligence apparatus.
🇺🇸 Trump, speaking to the press pool:
"We're gonna declassify almost everything … I told [Bill Pulte], 'You can declassify whatever you want.'"
YES! Declassify everything 👽😂
Writer: Michaelpic.twitter.com/gZOBJ6lzeY
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 1, 2026
The line that stood out was direct. Trump said, “We’re gonna declassify almost everything,” and that he told Pulte, “You can declassify whatever you want.”
Reporters in the pool captured the same message in real time.
Alayna Treene reported that Trump said he wants Pulte to declassify almost everything while he is in the role.
She also noted earlier reporting that when Trump selected Pulte to temporarily take the job last month, he wanted him to work on the intelligence office itself.
Trump says he told his new acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte that he wants him to “declassify almost everything” while he’s in the role.
We prev reported that when he selected Pulte to temporarily take on the job last month, Trump had hoped he would work to…
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) July 1, 2026
The setting matters. This came through a press gaggle rather than a scripted announcement or signed order.
It was Trump talking to the pool on his way out the door, saying out loud what he expects from the man currently holding the office.
Jennifer Jacobs reported the remarks from that same gaggle before the North Dakota flight.
She noted Trump said he thinks Bill will declassify, while also making clear that Jay Clayton is expected to go in and that Pulte is a talented guy serving in the meantime.
Trump said the acting director of national intelligence is going to declassify "almost everything."
"I think that Bill will declassify," Trump says in press gaggle before flight to North Dakota. But "we have Jay Clayton is going in. You know, Bill Pulte is a very talented guy,… pic.twitter.com/1X9gYKToWs— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 1, 2026
The timing is the story.
Pulte is acting DNI, Clayton has not been confirmed, and Trump is telling the temporary reformer to start lifting the secrecy curtain while he has the chair.
A June 4, 2026 White House release framed Pulte as the kind of outsider the administration wanted inside the intelligence world.
The release called him a battle-tested reformer with experience safeguarding sensitive information and overhauling large government institutions.
It also pointed to a long list of Republican lawmakers who praised the appointment, including Jim Banks, Marsha Blackburn, Katie Britt, Bernie Moreno, Tommy Tuberville, Andrew Clyde, Lance Gooden, Paul Gosar, Abe Hamadeh, Darrell Issa, Ronny Jackson, Nick Langworthy, Anna Paulina Luna, Lloyd Smucker, Marlin Stutzman, and Claudia Tenney.
Several of those statements described Pulte as an America First fighter who could challenge entrenched interests, drain the swamp inside the intelligence community, and keep the agencies focused on protecting the American people.
That background is why Trump’s declassification order-by-permission lands differently than a normal staffing update. The White House sold Pulte as a reformer, and Trump just gave that reformer the transparency lane.
The ODNI leadership page currently lists William J. Pulte as Director of National Intelligence, while a January 2025 White House declassification order shows that this transparency push has roots in earlier Trump declassification action.
In that earlier order, Trump said the federal government had held back records connected to the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King Jr. for more than 50 years.
He directed the DNI and the attorney general to present plans for the full and complete release of those records, subject to the legal process laid out in the order.
That matters here because the Pulte remarks fit the same broader theme: secrets held for decades should face a president willing to ask why the public still cannot see them.
Trump gave permission and expectation; the actual releases come next.
That is where Pulte’s short window becomes so important.
The intelligence bureaucracy has spent decades deciding what the public gets to know and what stays buried under a classification stamp.
Now President Trump has told his temporary intel chief that the stamp is his to lift. What Pulte does with that authority is the story to watch next.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
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