Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee has sent a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte, accusing him of abuse of FHFA authority and resources to investigate political enemies of President Donald Trump.
“In recent months, you personally and publicly referred three prominent public officials to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for prosecution for alleged mortgage fraud,” said the letter. “Two of the referrals are for United States Senator Adam Schiff and New York State Attorney General Letitia James, both of whom are President Trump’s political opponents and public figures he has viciously attacked for years. More recently, you also referred Governor Lisa Cook, who occupies a crucial leadership role on the Federal Reserve Board which President Trump has made clear he seeks to take over and control. Just days after your referral, President Trump fired Governor Cook, relying on your allegations as the basis for her dismissal and as the pretext for his lawless and rapacious power grab.”
Rep. Raskin contends that the FHFA Director used his role to “conduct deep-sea fishing expeditions of Americans’ personal financial information” to deliver artificial intelligence (AI)-aided reports on officials who have criticized the President.
California Sen. Schiff, under federal criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland for alleged violations related to mortgage fraud, had his situation brought to light in late May when Pulte wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche citing allegations against Sen. Schiff. According to the letter, Pulte claims, “Mr. Adam B. Schiff has, in multiple instances, falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, impacting payments from 2003-2019 for a Potomac, Maryland-based property.”
The DOJ then launched a criminal mortgage fraud investigation into Federal Reserve Governor Cook, and has issued grand jury subpoenas in Georgia and Michigan. The investigation began in late August, as Pulte accused Cook of mortgage fraud after she designated a Michigan home and an Atlanta condominium as primary residences on loan applications.
“U.S. Federal Housing FHFA, alleges in a Criminal Referral to the Department of Justice that Federal Reserve Governor, Lisa D. Cook, committed mortgage fraud by designating her out of state condo as her primary residence, just two weeks after taking a loan on her Michigan home where she also declared it as her primary residence,” said Pulte via X. “When someone commits mortgage fraud, they undermine the faith and integrity of our System. It does not matter who you are—no one is above the law. We have sent a Criminal Referral to the Department of Justice regarding the allegations against Ms. Cook, and the DOJ should go wherever the facts may lead them.”
In his letter, Rep. Raskin has requested “all records related to these selective investigations.”
“Shortly after you took office, FHFA appears to have abandoned its primary mission of safeguarding the mortgage market, even in the midst of a housing affordability crisis affecting tens of millions of Americans, and instead began using this massive trove of Americans’ personal data as a weapon with which to exact retribution and pressure on behalf of the President,” claimed Rep. Raskin in the letter. “In recent months, you have made nearly identical criminal referrals to DOJ for mortgage fraud for three prominent officials: Senator Schiff, Attorney General James, and Governor Cook—all of them either a prominent Democratic politician or an official appointed by a Democratic president—claiming that each official in question misrepresented whether a home was a primary or principal residence to secure a lower mortgage.”
The House Judiciary Committee is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that has jurisdiction over a range of issues related to the administration of justice. The Committee is responsible for conducting oversight of the executive branch and the federal judiciary, and has the authority to impeach federal officials, including the President, and to consider articles of impeachment.
The letter also calls into question Palantir, the Denver, Colorado-based provider of AI and machine learning (ML) technology used by government agencies and commercial clients. The company’s offerings provides expansive monitoring for anomalous transactions, activities, and behaviors to help companies detect suspicious activity and trigger investigative action.
Earlier this year, Fannie Mae announced a partnership with Palantir to launch a Crime Detection Unit in an effort to enhance the GSE’s fraud detection capabilities, a partnership projected to save the U.S. housing market millions in fraud losses.
“Your abuse of the agency is all the more concerning given recent reports that your agency is partnering with giant data and surveillance firm Palantir to conduct widescale searches of Americans’ mortgage data even as Palantir reportedly creates a master database of Americans’ personal information,” continued the letter.
Rep. Raskin gave a deadline of September 22 for the FHFA Director to submit records related to mortgage investigations, as well as documents related to the use of AI to identify mortgage fraud, and communications between the FHFA and any White House staff related to any investigation or review of any public official or investigation or review into mortgage or occupancy fraud.
Click here to view the full letter from Rep. Raskin to FHFA Director Pulte.
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