House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Tuesday launched an investigation into Bill Pulte, the Trump administration housing official targeting some of the president's political enemies.
Why it matters: Democrats lack potent investigative tools as the minority party in Congress, but Raskin's probe signals that this will be an avenue of inquiry for the party if they retake the House next year.
- Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has accused Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York attorney general Letitia James and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook of alleged mortgage fraud.
- "Your decision to use the FHFA to selectively—and publicly—investigate and target the President's designated political enemies gives rise to the unmistakable impression that you have been improperly coordinating with the White House to launch these probes," Raskin wrote to Pulte in a letter on Tuesday.
State of play: Pulte most recently made headlines with his criminal referral against Cook last month, which President Trump used to try to fire the Fed governor in an effort to force the U.S. central bank to lower interest rates.
- Pulte accused Cook of listing both a house in Michigan and a condo in Atlanta as her primary residences in mortgage documents, though Cook has denied any wrongdoing.
- Pulte has made similar allegations against Schiff and James, who led an impeachment effort and a lawsuit against Trump, respectively.
What they're saying: "The roster of the individuals you have chosen to target and publicly refer to DOJ inescapably suggests that your overarching purpose is to punish and smear critics of President Trump," Raskin wrote.
- He demanded that Pulte "produce all records related to these selective investigations," as well as any investigations into "other Democratic congressional members or state elected officials."
- Raskin is also scrutinizing FHFA's reported partnership with data analytics firm Palantir to use artificial intelligence to identify mortgage fraud.
- FHFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
