Sen. Elizabeth Warren is putting a spotlight on a pair of lawyers cast aside by the Department of Housing and Urban Development after drawing attention to the Trump administration’s actions at the agency.
Warren is holding an unofficial “shadow” hearing on housing discrimination on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported. Both whistleblowers were expected to testify at the hearing, as well as special counsel for civil rights with the National Fair Housing Alliance and the executive director of the Tennessee Fair Housing Council.
An invite was also extended to HUD secretary Scott Turner, though it’s unclear if he would appear. The hearing came about after Sen. Tim Scott, the chair of the same committee Warren sits on, passed on calling an official hearing.
The hearing will center on allegations that HUD is failing to enforce anti-discrimination laws. Among the allegations are that the 27 fair housing attorneys employed at the start of Trump’s second term have been whittled down to nine, including only six who would argue trial cases.
“When Trump fires the people who do that work, it means they have nowhere to turn when they’ve been discriminated against,” Warren said.
In the fall, HUD attorneys Paul Osadebe and Palmer Heenan were pulled into meetings and ordered to leave their offices. The former was placed on administrative leave, while the latter was terminated. Both were accused of sharing information not meant to be disseminated.
The pair were the only named signatories on an Aug. 27 whistleblower disclosure sent to Warren. The memo accused HUD of reassigning civil rights lawyers, walking back existing discrimination charges and sidelining cases involving redlining, appraisal bias and other forms of housing discrimination.
They warned that the retreat amounted to gross mismanagement and threatened public safety.
In a subsequent letter, Warren demanded an inspector general probe whether HUD is enforcing civil rights laws. HUD insisted at the time that enforcement continued, noting thousands of cases have closed, and blamed the Biden administration for delays.
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