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A Phil Hall Op-Ed: On Feb. 9, 1950, the Republican Women’s Club of Wheeling, West Virginia, invited Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin to provide the keynote speech for its Lincoln Day event. McCarthy shocked his audience – and, quickly afterwards, the nation – when he held up a piece of paper and declared, “The State Department is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205 – a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.”

However, McCarthy never made that list available to anyone – not to the media, not to his fellow senators, and not to the FBI. In fact, McCarthy never produced a single name from the list of 205 that he claimed to possess. That type of dishonest and reckless behavior ultimately created the state of anxiety that became known as McCarthyism, where sneers and smears were used against perceived enemies – in this case, the Democratic administration of Harry S Truman and the State Department under the leadership of Secretary of State Dean Acheson.

I raise this history lesson in view of some shenanigans this week created by Bill Pulte, who is supposed to be directing the Federal Housing Finance Agency but lately has been obsessed with bullying some of the leaders of the Federal Reserve to leave their jobs.

Early yesterday, Pulte took to his personal X account – he never uses his official FHFA X account – to announce plans for a press conference to be held on today at 10:00 a.m. on the steps of the Elijah Barrett Prettyman US Courthouse in Washington, DC, which he titled “In the Matter of Lisa D. Cook.” Pulte declared, “Once you see what we present on Thursday, there’s going to be a lot of people apologizing and retracting their false and defamatory statements. Watch.”

What did Pulte have on Cook that he was eager to share in an open-air press event? That’s the question without an answer. Later that day, he went back to X to state, “Out of respect for the process, I will be delaying this press conference.”

Was Pulte being honest that he had career-damaging information on Cook that he was ready to share before he pulled the McCarthy-worthy stunt? To be frank, I don’t think he was telling the truth.

Pulte has been in office for a relatively short period, but he already has a track record of not being honest. In July, he used the FHFA media department in July to put out a press release insisting there were “reports that Jerome Powell is considering resigning.” Of course, there were no such reports because Powell never considered resigning – after Trump’s victory last November, Powell always stated he intended to serve out his full term.

Equally dishonest was Pulte’s insistence on X that the Fed hired a crisis communications public relations agency after the White House began toying with Powell’s dismissal because of cost overruns on renovations at the Fed’s headquarters. Again, Pulte never bothered to identify the name of the agency the Fed hire. There was a reason why he wouldn’t identify the agency – the Fed didn’t hire one.

Pulte already made two criminal referrals about Cook to the Department of Justice – if he had more dirt, why not make a third referral? Perhaps Pulte may have realized that no one outside of Trump-worshipping conservative media is taking him seriously – an appearance earlier today on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” was a rare example where journalists questioned Pulte’s honesty and integrity, to his visible discomfort.

Also earlier today, the Wall Street Journal reported the Department of Justice began a criminal probe into the allegations against Cook. Of course, that’s not the same thing as an indictment, and the timing of that leaked news is suspicious since a judge is now weighing Cook’s restraining order to prevent Trump from trying to fire her. Also, why is Cook’s referral getting priority over earlier Pulte-fueled mortgage fraud referrals against New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), which have yet to spark any investigations?

Personally, I doubt anything will come of this investigation. After all, Attorney General Pam Bondi couldn’t locate the Jeffrey Epstein client list that she supposedly left on her desk, so how is she going to find beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence against Cook?

If Cook remains on the Fed’s board of governors, Pulte’s machinations will be viewed as a failure. McCarthy ultimately fell from grace because of his dishonesty and self-destructive behavior. Pulte would do well to change his act and not to follow in those disgraceful footsteps.

Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].