Congressional watchdog probes Trump FHFA chief Bill Pulte

Government Accountability Office He said he launched an investigation on Thursday Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who serves as an attack dog against President Donald Trump’s enemies.

Congressional watchdog investigation requested by one person Senate Democrats caucusHe had asked GAO to determine whether Pulte and other FHFA employees “abused federal authority and resources” to obtain information about Trump’s targets.

“Specifically, we request an investigation into Director Pulte’s referral of New York Attorney General Letitia James, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, and Congressman Eric Swalwell to the U.S. Department of Justice for mortgage fraud,” Democrats wrote to GAO on November 17.

“Despite his repeated claims that his investigations are nonpartisan, Mr. Pulte’s public accusations appear to target only prominent Democrats and public officials, including those whom President Trump has publicly threatened with political and criminal retribution,” Democrats wrote.

“I can confirm that GAO accepted this request following our standard process,” a GAO spokesperson told CNBC on Thursday.

“The first thing GAO does when beginning any study is to determine the exact scope of the topic we will be covering and the methodology to be used,” the spokesperson said. “This could take several months and until that happens we cannot make any predictions on the completion date.”

Swalwell, D-Calif., sued Pulte last week, accusing the FHFA chief of abusing his authority to make “fictitious” claims about mortgage fraud.

Swalwell’s The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.It alleges that Pulte improperly accessed and leaked the congressman’s private mortgage records in retaliation for his political speech.

“Director Pulte scoured private records to silence political opponents,” Swalwell said in a statement last week.

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