Donald Trump Exposed for Mortgage Double Standard

Bill Pulte has a tough decision ahead of him: Does he refer his boss for criminal indictment on similar mortgage fraud charges bombarding political foes?

Donald Trump allegedly listed two Palm Beach homes next to Mar-a-Lago as primary residences when obtaining mortgages in the 1990s, ProPublica reported. That’s similar to the alleged conduct of the likes of New York Attorney General Letitia James and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, who have been targeted by the Trump administration.

In 1993, Trump pledged one home would be a primary residence, then pledged the same thing for a neighboring property seven weeks later. The rub? Neither has ever been a primary residence or even been lived in by the president, who appears to have used the homes as rental investments.

“They were rentals from the beginning,” the wife of Trump’s late local real estate agent told the publication. “President Trump never lived there.”

Experts on mortgage law didn’t necessarily view Trump’s actions as illegal — though it can help borrowers land better terms — but noted that they followed the same lines of the loan claims his administration has used as basis for investigations and even criminal referrals.

For instance, an indictment of A.G. James accused the attorney general of claiming a Virginia property as a second home, then renting it out. James’ indictment was tossed due to the ineligibility of the prosecutor and a federal grand jury recently failed to reindict her.

“Given Trump’s position on situations like this, he’s going to either need to fire himself or refer himself to the Department of Justice,” Kathleen Engel, a Suffolk University law professor, told the publication.

The loans in question have since been paid off and fall out of the mortgage fraud statute of limitations.

This year, Pulte — who leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency and is being investigated by the congressional watchdog Government Accountability Office — said, “If somebody is claiming two primary residences, that is not appropriate, and we will refer it for criminal investigation.”

Trump hung up on a reporter asking about the mortgages, while the White House said there was “no defraudation” and said it was “another desperate attempt by the Left wing media to disparage President Trump with false allegations.”

— Holden Walter-Warner