The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is opening an investigation into Bill Pulte to determine if he abused his authority as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) by ordering investigations into perceived political enemies of President Trump.
According to a Reuters report, the GAO’s action follows a request made last month by Democratic senators including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, to see if Pulte’s criminal referrals of alleged mortgage fraud was motivated by partisan politics and if it represented an abuse of government resources. Pulte’s criminal referrals involved New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).
The GAO, which is an independent investigative agency of the legislative branch, did not provide a timeline for the investigation.
“GAO accepts your request as work that is within the scope of its authority,” said A. Nicole Clowers, a managing director at GAO, in a letter to the legislators.
Steven Cheung, a White House spokesperson, in a statement that Pulte “is one of the President’s most loyal and important advisors who is doing a great job.” Pulte and the FHFA did not publicly comment on the report.
