A Phil Hall Op-Ed: Earlier today, the irrepressible Bill Pulte checked into his second home on X and alerted the 3 million folks following his personal account to consider the following observation: “Fate hates hypocrisy.”
Now, what exactly is the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency talking about with that enigmatic three-word message? Is he repeating an aphorism that unfurled when he broke open a fortune cookie? Or is he reaching for a level of cosmic wisdom that one associates with gurus in saffron-hued long robes? Or is he under the impression that he must fill a quota of tweets on X, regardless of the wit and wisdom being shared?
Whatever his goal, I genuinely adore Pulte’s use of the word “hypocrisy” because the pugnacious housing regulator is clueless to the sad fact that he is not practicing what he preaches. In this case, the “hypocrisy” involves his latest obsession with mortgage fraud involving political figures.
Lest we forget – and we can’t, because won’t let us – Pulte issued criminal referrals to the Department of Justice regarding alleged mortgage fraud committed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff, and Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa D. Cook. James and Schiff, of course, have respectively worked overtime to ruin Trump with baseless accusations of financial impropriety and colluding with the Putin regime – many people view the Pulte-driven charges against them as the ultimate call of “Karma, get it!”
Cook is not a stridently vocal critic of Trump, but she is one of the more obscure members of the Fed’s Board of Governors – a position she gained thanks to former President Biden. Pulte has been demanding her resignation after he accused her of mortgage fraud – which would conveniently give the president a new vacancy to fill in the central bank’s leadership circle.
But oddly, there is one delicious case of mortgage fraud that Pulte has overlooked. That involves Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas.
You may recall a story from last month when the Associated Press did their own Pulte-worthy deep-dive into old home loan applications by politicians and discovered Paxton and his now-estranged wife owned three homes – one in a Dallas suburb, two in Austin – but the mortgages signed for the properties claimed each was their primary residence, thus enabling them to enjoy low interest rates on each loan.
The allegations against Paxton mirror those against James, Schiff and Cook – Pulte claims each of them had multiple mortgages claiming primary residence. But Pulte hasn’t made any criminal referrals to Pam Bondi to investigate Paxton. Indeed, if you scroll through Pulte’s X page, you will find scores of people openly asking Pulte about why he isn’t pursuing mortgage fraud charges against Paxton. But you won’t find any answer by Pulte, nor is Paxton’s name ever mentioned on that page. And don’t bother trying to get an answer from the media relations team at Pulte’s agency – I did, twice, and they ignored me both times.
Well, there is one difference – unlike James, Schiff and Cook, Paxton is a Republican and a longtime supporter of Trump, going so far as to file a lawsuit to block the 2020 election results that booted Trump from office. Compare that to the snarling by James and Schiff against Trump.
Even better, Paxton has launched a rare internecine campaign to oust fellow Republican John Cornyn, the four-term senator seeking re-election in 2026; Paxton also claimed without evidence that Cornyn planted the mortgage fraud story in the media. The most recent polls put Paxton ahead of Cornyn, and if this trend continues then it would seem Paxton will be his party’s nominee for next year’s senate race in Texas. How would it look if the Republican candidate for Senate was under federal investigation for mortgage fraud?
As the chief law enforcement official in Texas, Paxton isn’t going to prosecute himself. But as Pulte claimed repeatedly that it is his job to go after mortgage fraudsters, where is his pursuit of Paxton? Why can’t he get himself to type Paxton’s name in any of his X tweets about investigating mortgage fraud?
In view of this situation, it would seem the “Fate hates hypocrisy” quote is a little too close to Pulte for comfort. But I can think of a quote that is more appropriate for our favorite regulator whenever he starts bloviating about his dedication to fighting mortgage fraud: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
Wow, so you are saying if Pulte isn’t prosecuted all the rest should not be, only when it is a Republican President or politician! Sad slanted, whacked out thinking that is exactly why the Democrats are a lost party.
No, I said nothing of the sort. I pointed out that an investigation showed that Paxton (not Pulte) reportedly engaged in mortgage fraud but is not being probed by the DOJ because of his alliance with the administration. I never said there was no case against the others, but I noted it was no coincidence that they were being targeted. Whether there is a genuine case against them will be decided by the DOJ and, if applicable, the courts. Also, I am not a Democrat.
How do you know that Paxton in not being probed by the DOJ because of his alliance with the administration. You should add those details to your article.
Thank you for the story. This is exactly what I was thinking. The level of hypocrisy of the Republican Party continues to amaze. Ken Paxton has to be the most corrupt slimy greasy scumbag politician in the land.