Up until fairly recently, most Americans were probably unfamiliar with the Federal Housing Finance Agency and even less familiar with its controversial Republican director, William Pulte. But after the White House loyalist — recently described by The Washington Post as “a prominent Trump sidekick” — started going after the president’s perceived political foes with claims of mortgage fraud, the agency and its chief found themselves in the spotlight.
It’s not altogether flattering. Politico reported, for example, that some congressional Republicans are “privately expressing growing discontent” with Pulte. The article quoted one unnamed GOP lawmaker saying, in reference to the housing official: “The guy’s just a little too big for his britches.”
Another added, “I think he’s a nut.”
But just as notable is some of the pushback the FHFA chief is getting from one of the Trump targets he referred to the Justice Department. The Los Angeles Times reported:
Three days after President Trump publicly accused Sen. Adam Schiff of committing mortgage fraud, an attorney for Schiff wrote privately to the Department of Justice that there was ‘no factual basis’ for the claims — but ‘ample basis’ to launch an investigation into Bill Pulte, the Trump administration official digging into the mortgage records of the president’s most prominent political opponents.
For those who might benefit from a refresher, it was in July when Pulte, pointing to dubious claims of mortgage fraud, sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department about Schiff. The president, who has made no effort to hide his seething hatred for the California Democrat, seized on Putle’s efforts and called on prosecutors to go after the senator.
It was around this same time when Schiff hired Preet Bharara, a high-profile legal figure who served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, who wasted little time in reaching out to the DOJ.
“We are disturbed by the highly irregular, partisan process that led to these baseless accusations; the purposeful, coordinated public disclosure of these materials containing confidential personal information, without regard to the security risks posed to the Senator and his family; and Mr. Pulte’s role in this sordid effort,” Bharara wrote in the July 18 letter reviewed by MaddowBlog.
The L.A. Times’ report added:








