An independent congressional watchdog agency is opening an investigation into Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, following a request from Senate Democrats last month.
A group of Senate Democrats in November asked the watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, to “promptly investigate recent actions undertaken at the Federal Housing Finance Agency” by Pulte, including his targeted mortgage fraud allegations against prominent critics of the Trump administration.
A spokesperson for the GAO on Thursday told NOTUS it “accepted this request following our standard process.”
“The first thing GAO does as any work begins is to determine the full scope of what we will cover and the methodology to be used,” the spokesperson continued. “This can take a few months, and until that is done, we cannot provide any estimates on a completion date.”
Trending
The Federal Housing Finance Agency did not respond to a request for comment.
The managing director of GAO’s office of congressional relations, A. Nicole Clowers, on Monday sent a letter to the Democrats estimating that it would be “about four months” until the GAO has the staff to “begin engagement.”
Since his nomination in March, Pulte has used his role at the Federal Housing Finance Agency to pursue unexplained “tips” against several Democratic officials targeted by President Donald Trump. Among others, Pulte has issued mortgage fraud allegations against New York Attorney General Letitia James and a Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook, whom Trump tried to fire earlier this year from her position over the allegations — though she is currently serving in the role while the Supreme Court considers her challenge to the termination.
The lawmakers who recommended Pulte for the investigation celebrated GAO’s Thursday announcement. In a post to X reacting to the news, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said: “Good.”
“Instead of doing his job and lowering housing costs, Bill Pulte is abusing his position to trump up bogus charges at the President’s request,” her post continued. “I called on the GAO to start this investigation because Americans deserve answers and accountability.”
“He must be held accountable for this abuse of power,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote on X.
Pulte has repeatedly faced questions about how the mortgage documents that he used in his referrals came to light. In an exchange on CNBC in September, Pulte said he received a “tip” about Cook, but refused to disclose where it came from.
“I’m not going to explain our sources and methods,” he said at the time. “We make referrals almost every day. Lisa Cook happened to be one of them.”
GAO’s investigation comes as Pulte is under simultaneous investigation by the Department of Justice for his handling of a mortgage fraud probe against Sen. Adam Schiff.
In addition to the two investigations, Pulte is also being sued by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who argues that Pulte abused his authority to make “fanciful” mortgage fraud allegations against him.
“Director Pulte has combed through private records of political opponents,” Swalwell said in a statement posted to X in November. “To silence them. There’s a reason the First Amendment — the freedom of speech — comes before all others.”
Author
