Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Bill Pulte, the Trump administration's Federal Housing Finance Agency director, alleging Pulte's attempt to snoop on his mortgage documents violated his constitutional liberties.
The suit, filed in the District of Columbia, says that Pulte violated the congressman's privacy and First Amendment rights.
"For the past decade, Representative Swalwell has publicly and vigorously opposed President Trump’s policies and sought to hold the President accountable for various abuses of office," the suit noted. "In 2021, Representative Swalwell served as an impeachment manager during President Trump’s second impeachment trial and, two months later, filed suit against President Trump for inciting the January 6 insurrection at Capitol Hill. Today, Representative Swalwell remains an ardent critic of the President, frequently denouncing the President’s actions and political agenda in national media outlets."
For this, the suit alleged, Trump and Pulte sought to seek revenge on Swalwell using the power of the state.
"On November 13, 2025, Pulte formally referred Representative Swalwell to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution on charges of mortgage fraud. In the referral, Pulte alleged that Representative Swalwell had falsely claimed his District of Columbia home as his primary residence on a mortgage agreement in order to secure more favorable loan terms," noted the suit.
These claims are false, the suit continues — but the means with which Pulte built this allegation, snooping on his mortgage records, were a "gross abuse of power" that violated the 1974 Privacy Act as well as Swalwell's freedom of speech.
This comes after Pulte, often referred to as Trump's "attack dog," has made similar allegations against a number of other Trump critics. One such referral led to the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James, but a judge this week tossed that case, on the grounds that the prosecutor who briefed the grand jury was installed unlawfully.