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:
Bharara outlined several reasons why he believed the president’s allegations against Schiff are without merit, and attached a copy of a letter from Schiff to the mortgage lender on his home near Washington, D.C, that Bharara said proved Schiff had been ‘completely transparent’ about listing both that home and a unit in his home district in Burbank as primary residences in mortgage documents. Bharara also tried to turn the tables, making the case that Pulte is “a Presidential appointee who seems to have made it his mission to misuse the power of his office to manufacture allegations of criminal conduct against the President’s perceived political adversaries,” and as such, it’s Pulte, and not Schiff, who should be investigated. “You should decline Mr. Pulte’s invitation to join his retaliatory harassment of Senator Schiff,” Bharara wrote to DOJ leaders. “Instead, Mr. Pulte’s misuse of his position should be investigated by a nonpartisan Inspector General to determine whether Mr. Pulte’s conduct should be referred to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation.” In other words, if anyone did something wrong here, it’s the accuser, not the accused. DOJ officials have declined to comment, though I’m confident we haven’t heard the last of this one. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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