Before Bill Pulte briefly became President Donald Trump's intelligence chief, the Federal Housing Finance Agency director reportedly turned his mortgage-hunting operation on Attorney General Todd Blanche himself, the Wall Street Journal reports.
While combing through the mortgages of Trump's political adversaries last year, Pulte also scrutinized Blanche's records, according to people familiar with the matter.
At the time, Blanche was the No. 2 official at the Justice Department and clashing with Pulte over how aggressively to pursue mortgage-fraud investigations Pulte had pushed.
"Some officials believed Pulte had been trying to collect information on Blanche and others to undermine them and pressure them to more quickly pursue the investigations," the Journal reported.
Those officials accused Pulte of wanting dirt on Blanche to manipulate him into moving faster on cases targeting Sen. Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, all referred to prosecutors by Pulte last year citing his FHFA authority.
Pulte denies it. His lawyer called any claim that he "examined or reviewed" Blanche's mortgage files false, and both FHFA and DOJ spokespeople dismissed the story as an attempt to "drive a wedge" between the two men. A Justice Department spokeswoman said Blanche has only one mortgage, plus a cosigned loan for his son. "He is a cosigner of a loan on a home owned by his son, as are many parents across America," she told the Journal. Blanche and his aides later reviewed his own mortgage records and found nothing wrong.
According to the Journal, "Pulte has clashed with others in the White House who view him as a brash operator who swerves way outside of his lane to please Trump in ways that often are hurtful politically. Trump has said he values Pulte’s loyalty and has resisted pressure from some other administration officials to oust him."
