The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal took a harsh aim at Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), for using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to target President Trump’s political foes with mortgage fraud accusations while failing to direct the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to wage a serious combat against mortgage fraud.
In the editorial “Bill Pulte and His Book of Liar Loans,” the Journal declared that if Pulte “is serious about tackling mortgage fraud, he’ll focus on cleaning up Fannie and Freddie and expose loan liars regardless of party.” The editorial noted that Pulte has only brought highly publicized charges of mortgage fraud against Democratic politicians who are adversaries of Trump – New York Attorney General Letitia James and California’s Sen. Adam Schiff – and Biden-appointed Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, but not against the Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Trump ally who was reported to have mortgages on three homes that he claimed were each his primary residence.
“Even better, he’d order Fan and Fred to stop guaranteeing second homes and investment properties so borrowers could only take out one taxpayer-backed mortgage,” the editorial continued. “Congress created Fannie and Freddie to spread home ownership, but these days they service the affluent. Second homes and investment properties that are stated as such on applications make up 8% to 9% of the GSE portfolios. Fannie and Freddie also guarantee single-family mortgages as large as $1.2 million.”
The Journal also cited how “Messrs. Trump and Pulte want to release the housing GSEs from federal conservatorship, but the companies are a long way from ready for that. The fraud victims then could be taxpayers. Mr. Pulte should look first to the mortgage scandals on his own books.”
Pulte made no public comment on the Journal’s reprimand but instead appeared to affirm the Journal’s claim of political targeting by announcing a second criminal referral against Cook.
“On April 7, 2021, Cook entered a 15-year mortgage for a condominium in Cambridge, MA, representing it as her ‘Second Home,’” Pulte posted on his personal X account. “Only eight months later, on December 1, 2021, Cook signed an ethics form with the US Government that this property was an ‘investment/rental property’. In subsequent filings from 2022 to 2025, Cook consistently listed this property as an investment/rental property, not a second home. Representing the property as a second home may have allowed Cook to secure a lower ‘Second Home’ mortgage down payment and rates, as investment properties typically carry higher down payments and higher rates due to increased risk.”
Cook, who has not been charged with a crime, has filed a lawsuit in federal court to prevent Trump’s attempt to remove her from office, citing the lack of due process in the president’s dismissal.
President Trump took umbrage over the judge appointed to the Cook dismissal case, posting an excerpt from a Politico article on his Truth Social account that identified the judge as Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee who “blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to rapidly deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants who had fled violence or oppression in their home countries.”
Elsewhere in Washington, all of the Democrats on the Senate Banking Committe called on Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) to postpone consideration of all Federal Reserve nominees. In a letter to Scott, the Democrats wrote, “On Monday, President Trump attempted to unlawfully remove Governor Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board – the first time in history that a President has tried to remove a member of the Board. This action raises serious legal concerns and threatens the independence of the Federal Reserve, which could make mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, and everyday goods more expensive for American families.”
A Sept. 4 hearing was scheduled for the nomination of Stephen Miran to fill a vacancy on the Fed’s board of governors. The senators continued, “The Senate should not consider any nominee to the Federal Reserve during this unprecedented attempt to undermine its independence. The Committee should instead hold an oversight hearing on the legal and economic implications of the President’s actions.”
Photo courtesy Bill Pulte Fans Page on Instagram
Tim Scott and the Senate Banking committee should continue their process of vetting a new nominee to the Federal Reserve board regardless of the current charged atmosphere and the crying foul by the Democrats. So how on God’s green earth could any Republican nominee in this economic environment have any negative impact in raising rates in credit for the American people? Not happening. The beef between the Federal Reserve and this administration is in the pace of lowering rates. The Democrats are scratching in the wind to blow any kind of smoke that tries to make them look good. Nearly all of the Democrats just put lipstick on a pig with their rhetoric. Fannie & Freddie were chartered to help the overall mortgage market. They have lower, middle and upper income clients and their housing needs. FHA & VA were designed ,mostly for lower to middle income borrowers. I hope that Mr. Pulte is working diligently on the job to ready Fannie & Freddie for their next step back into a large private mortgage role outside of government. Lots of plates are spinning in the air here. I hope none of them fall and crash but we’ll see.
I would expect nothing less from a publication from the once respected WSJ turned rabid Never-Trump liberal rag, owned by non other than the fake conservative Rupert Murdoch.
However, all of this information is true. MAGA only attacks the messengers and never has sound reasoning to refute the facts. I understand how difficult it is when there is a neverending corrupt administration run by a petulant child.