Bill Pulte, the director of President Donald Trump's Federal Housing Finance Agency, was under investigation by ethics watchdogs shortly before the ethics office overseeing the agency was cleaned out by layoffs, reported The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
According to the report, the ethics office for Fannie Mae "had received internal complaints alleging senior officials had improperly directed staff to access ... mortgage documents" for officials who have criticized or legally fought Trump, including New York Attorney General Letitia James. "The Fannie investigators were probing to find out who had made the orders, whether Pulte had the authority to seek the documents and whether or not they had followed proper procedure, the people said."
"That group elevated the probe about the James documents to the more senior Office of Inspector General for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and that Pulte heads, the people said," the report continued, noting that "The acting inspector general then passed the report to the U.S. attorney’s office in eastern Virginia."
James is currently facing criminal indictment for bank fraud, over allegations that she improperly classified multiple properties as primary residences. She denies any wrongdoing, and so far, all evidence to come out in public has contradicted the charges against her.
However, the original source of the allegations came from Pulte, sometimes referred to as Trump's "attack dog," as he unearthed the mortgage documents that kicked off the controversy. He has made similar allegations against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, neither of whom currently face criminal charges.
All of this comes shortly after the FHFA cleaned house, dismissing a number of high-ranking officials overseeing ethics, including Fannie Mae chief ethics officer Suzanne Libby, general counsel Danielle McCoy, and FHFA acting inspector general Joe Allen. Pulte has claimed these firings were because the people in question were involved in diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, projects, which have been a frequent bogeyman for the Trump administration.
An FHFA spokesperson told the Journal, “The anonymous sources in this story are attempting to obstruct the criminal justice system by completely fabricating false and defamatory claims,” but did not elaborate on what claims were false and defamatory.
