Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has dropped his lawsuit against Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), after claiming Pulte used a mortgage fraud investigation against him as an act of political retribution.
Politico reports the lawsuit was filed in November, with Swalwell, a vocal critic of President Trump, alleging the investigation into his mortgage records violated the First Amendment’s “bedrock prohibition on viewpoint-based retaliation.” Swalwell also cited similar investigations against Trump critics as examples of misusing confidential data to silence his detractors.
While Pulte referred Swalwell’s case to the Department of Justice, no criminal charges have been brought against the congressman. The referral focused on Swalwell’s residence in Washington, DC, which Pulte’s referral claimed was being wrongly identified as his primary residence.
Just where Swalwell is living has become a sticking point in his campaign for governor of California. Tom Steyer, who is running against Swalwell for the Democratic nomination for governor, accused him of being a California resident “on paper only” while filmmaker Joel Gilbert unsuccessfully sued to keep him off the ballot by arguing Swalwell inappropriately used the business address belonging to his attorneys for his residence in his campaign filing.
A Swalwell campaign spokesperson attempted to shut down the question of his residency in a statement that said, “Pulte threatened a case. We called his bluff. He never brought it. And we just won on the same nonsense issue in California. Case closed.”
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