Senators seek probe of Bill Pulte’s alleged politicized criminal referrals
Eight Democratic senators are calling for an independent investigation into Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte after he referred at least four Democrats to the Department of Justice for prosecution regarding mortgage fraud violations. The lawmakers are concerned the accusations are entirely political and being done to get revenge on President Trump’s political opponents.
“Mr. Pulte, notably, is reportedly in contact with President Trump regarding his mortgage fraud investigations—creating a clear path through which Mr. Pulte could be working with the President to identify and execute on mortgage fraud investigation targets,” the senators said.
The Senators are asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate because it’s independent, unlike the FHFA inspector general’s office where employees have been fired for looking into how Pulte obtained this information.
“It is unclear why Pulte made these claims, how he accessed the information as Director to make such claims, and whether and how official FHFA resources—staff time, government communications systems, or privileged data—were used to do so,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the GAO.
Trump foes probed
Pulte has referred Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., New York Attorney General Letitia James and Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook to the DOJ. So far, only James has been indicted.
“There is also a question of whether Mr. Pulte’s public disclosure of personal financial records and information constitute violations of federal privacy laws, including the Federal Privacy Act of 1974, which ‘holds government employees to strict standards for dealing with and disseminating personal financial information in their possession,” the letter continued.
One of the signees, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told Straight Arrow News that he has mixed feelings about the probes.
“I think this is a witch hunt, literally by him, and he’s clearly going after the, ‘enemies of the president’,” Durbin said. “On the other hand, in public life, there should be full disclosure.”
Multiple Republicans told SAN that no one should be above the law and lawmakers should be treated like everybody else, echoing a talking point Schiff used during the impeachment proceedings.
“I think everyone who has been found to allegedly have committed mortgage fraud, Democrats and Republicans, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told SAN.
Schiff investigation
Straight Arrow News asked Sen. Schiff about the accusations; he said he knows nothing more than what he’s seen in the news.
At the time the accusations were made in July, Schiff wrote in response: “This baseless attempt at political retribution won’t stop me from holding [the president] accountable.”
Reports indicate the investigation into Schiff has stalled due to a lack of evidence. The investigation into Swalwell just came to light last week, with NBC News reporting that Pulte referred him for possible mortgage and tax fraud violations.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
