A group of Senate Democrats asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to open an investigation into Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), to determine whether he misused his authority in making multiple criminal referrals of mortgage fraud against political enemies of President Trump.
In a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, the lawmakers cited mortgage fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff, Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, which were made by Pulte directly and not through the FHFA Office of Inspector General, which is primarily responsible for criminal referrals.
“Mr. Pulte’s actions demand scrutiny,” the lawmakers wrote. “It is unclear why Pulte made these claims, how he accessed the information as Director to make such claims, and whether and how official FHFA resources —staff time, government communications systems, or privileged data—were used to do so. There is also a question of whether Mr. Pulte’s public disclosure of personal financial records and information constitutes violations of federal privacy laws, including the Federal Privacy Act of 1974, which ‘holds government employees to strict standards for dealing with and disseminating personal financial information in their possession.’”
The lawmakers added that it appeared Pulte was in direct contact with Trump regarding these referrals, declaring, “Taxpayer-funded agencies must not serve as instruments of partisan attack. If FHFA resources were used to target public officials for personal or partisan motives, the public has a right to know.”
The lawmakers called on the GAO to determine if the “existing laws, regulations, processes, procedures, and norms that govern the disclosure of personal financial records and information by FHFA” were violated by Pulte. The letter was signed by eight senators led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in her position as Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee.
The call for a probe into Pulte follows new reports of questionable ethics within the FHFA, with the Associated Press reporting a Pulte aide inappropriately shared confidential Fannie Mae mortgage pricing with rival Freddie Mac and Politico reporting Fannie Mae executives warned that the Letitia James mortgage fraud case lacked “clear and convincing evidence” but were forced to push ahead at Pulte’s request.
Pulte has not publicly commented on the increased attention given to his actions.
