Trump foes like Fed Governor Lisa Cook find themselves targeted by top
housing regulator
[August 28, 2025]
By CHRIS MEGERIAN, BRIAN SLODYSKO and FATIMA HUSSEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Bill Pulte was nominated as the country's top
housing regulator, he told senators that his “number one mission will be
to strengthen and safeguard the housing finance system.”
But since he started the job, he's distinguished himself by targeting
President Donald Trump 's political enemies. He's using property records
to make accusations of mortgage fraud and encourage criminal
investigations, wielding an obscure position to serve as a presidential
enforcer.
This week, Trump used allegations publicized by Pulte in an attempt to
fire Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve board, as he tries to
exert more control over the traditionally independent central bank.
Pulte claims that Cook designated two homes as her primary residence to
get more favorable mortgage rates. Cook plans to fight her removal,
laying the groundwork for a legal battle that could reshape a
cornerstone institution in the American economy.
Trump said Tuesday that Cook “seems to have had an infraction, and you
can’t have an infraction,” adding that he has “some very good people” in
mind to replace her.
Pulte has cheered on the president's campaign with a Trumpian flourish.
“Fraud will not be tolerated in President Trump’s housing market,” he
wrote on social media. “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Pulte targets Democrats but not Republicans
Pulte, 37, is a housing industry scion whose official job is director of
the Federal Housing Finance Agency. He oversees mortgage buyers Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, which were placed in conservatorship during the
Great Recession almost two decades ago.
Like other political appointees, he routinely lavishes praise on his
boss.
“President Trump is the greatest,” he posted over the weekend.
Pulte has made additional allegations of mortgage fraud against Sen.
Adam Schiff, one of Trump’s top antagonists on Capitol Hill, and New
York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed lawsuits against Trump.
Those cases are being pursued by Ed Martin, a Justice Department
official.
“In a world where housing is too expensive, we do not need to subsidize
housing for fraudsters by letting them get better rates than they
deserve,” Pulte wrote on social media.
Pulte has ignored a similar case involving Ken Paxton, the Texas
attorney general who is friendly with Trump and is running for Senate in
his state's Republican primary. Paxton took out mortgages on three
properties that were all identified as his primary residence.
He also has mortgages on two other properties that explicitly prohibit
him from renting the properties out, but both have been repeatedly
listed for rent, according to real estate listings and posts on
short-term rental sites.
Asked about Pulte's investigations and Trump's role in them, the White
House said that anyone who violates the law should be held accountable.
“President Trump’s only retribution is success and historic achievements
for the American people,” said Davis Ingle, White House spokesman.
It’s unclear whether Pulte is using government resources to develop the
allegations he has made. Mortgage documents are generally public
records, but they are typically maintained at the county level across
most of the U.S., making them difficult to comprehensively review.
However, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are both government-sponsored
entities, purchase large tranches of mortgages from lenders, which could
centralize much of that information, real estate and legal experts say.
FHFA did not respond to a detailed list of questions from the AP,
including whether Pulte or his aides used government resources to
conduct his research.
It's not just mortgages
Pulte's broadsides go beyond mortgages. He's been backing Trump's
criticism of Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, over expensive
renovations at the central bank's headquarters. Trump is pressuring
Powell to cut interest rates in hopes of lowering borrowing costs, and
his allies have highlighted cost overruns to suggest that Powell is
untrustworthy or should be removed from his position.
“This guy is supposed to be the money manager for the world’s biggest
economy, and it doesn’t even look like he can run a construction site,”
Pulte said while wearing a neon safety vest outside the building. “So
something doesn’t smell right here.”
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Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte, speaks to
reporters at the White House, July 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
Since returning to the White House, Trump has reached deep into the
government to advance his agenda. He's overhauled the federal
workforce with the Office of Personnel Management, pushed
ideological changes at the Smithsonian network of museums and fired
the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics when he didn't
like a recent report on job numbers.
With Pulte in charge, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is becoming
another instrument of Trump's mission to exert control and retaliate
against enemies.
It's a contrast to the Internal Revenue Service, where Trump has
unsuccessfully discussed ways to use tax policies as a pressure
point. For example, during battles over higher education, Trump
threatened to take away Harvard's long-standing tax-exempt status by
saying, “It's what they deserve.”
However, there are more restrictions there, dating back to the
Watergate scandal under President Richard Nixon.
“It's been hard for the administration to use the inroads it wants
to use to pursue its enemies,” said Vanessa Williamson, a senior
fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
She said, “The law is very clear about taxpayer privacy and the
criminal penalties at play are not small.”
Before going on the attack, Pulte played nice online
Pulte is heir to a home-building fortune amassed by his grandfather,
also named William Pulte, who founded a construction company in
Detroit in the 1950s that grew into the publicly traded national
housing giant now known as the Pulte Group.
He spent four years on the company's board, and he's the owner of
heating and air conditioning businesses across the U.S. He had never
served in government before being nominated by Trump to lead the
Federal Housing Finance Agency.
“While many children spent their weekends at sporting events, I
spent mine on homebuilding jobsites with my father and grandfather,”
Pulte said in written testimony for his nomination hearing. “From
the ground up, I learned every aspect of housing — whether it was
cleaning job sites, assisting in construction, or helping sell
homes.”
He once tried to make a name for himself with good deeds, describing
himself as the “Inventor of Twitter Philanthropy” and offering money
to needy people online. He was working in private equity at the
time, and he told the Detroit Free Press that he funded his
donations with some “very good liquidity events” to power his
donations.
Even six years ago, he appeared focused on getting attention from
Trump.
“If @realDonaldTrump retweets this, my team and I will give Two
Beautiful Cars to Two Beautiful Veterans on Twitter.”
Trump replied, “Thank you, Bill, say hello to our GREAT VETERANS!”
Pulte, whose most recent financial disclosure shows a net worth of
at least $180 million, was also ramping up his political donations.
Over the past six years, he and his wife have donated over $1
million to the political efforts of Trump and his allies, including
a $500,000 contribution to a super PAC affiliated with Trump that
was the subject of a campaign finance complaint made with the
Federal Election Commission.
The Pultes' $500,000 contribution was made through a company they
control named ML Organization LLC, records show. While such
contributions are typically allowed from corporations, the same is
not always true for some limited liability companies that have a
limited business footprint and could be set up to obscure the donor.
The FEC ultimately exonerated the Pultes, but found in April that
the Trump super PAC, Make America Great Again, Again! Inc., did not
properly disclose that the Pultes were the source of the donation,
said Saurav Ghosh, the Campaign Legal Center’s director of federal
campaign finance reform.
Ghosh said the donation raises serious questions about Pulte’s
appointment to lead FHFA.
“Why is Bill Pulte even in a government position?” he said. “Maybe
he’s qualified, maybe he isn’t. But he did pour hundreds of
thousands of dollars into a pro-Trump super PAC. And I think it’s
clear there are these types of rewards for big donors across the
Trump administration.”
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