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MaddowBlog-Mortgage fraud allegations generate even more political headaches for Team Trump
Donald Trump urged reporters to start digging into officials’ mortgage records. Three weeks later, he probably wishes he hadn’t offered that advice.
Mortgage fraud allegations generate even more political headaches for Team Trump...
— Fighting Liberal Texas Dem🌈🌊💙🦋Congress Switchboard 202-224-3121 (@fightingliberal.bsky.social) 2025-09-17T22:33:02.074Z
www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/mortgage-fraud-allegations-generate-even-political-headaches-team-trum-rcna231929
But the president’s challenge — that reporters should “go check out the records” themselves — has proven to be interesting advice.
Reuters reported two weeks ago, for example, that some of Pulte’s close relatives allegedly did what Pulte accused Cook of doing. ProPublica reported around the same time that three prominent members of the president’s team — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin — also allegedly ran into the same problem. (All three denied wrongdoing in a statement to ProPublica.)
The list is apparently still growing. CNBC reported:
.......Nevertheless, the similarities add to the White House’s headaches, especially given the severity of the allegations the president and his team have levied against Cook.
For his part, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California, another of Pulte’s targets, recently argued, “Donald Trump has made mortgage fraud accusations his weapon of choice to attack people standing in his way and people standing up to him, like me. ... Should we expect Trump and his enablers at [the Justice Department] to make sensational accusations against and investigate his own Cabinet?”
If recent history is any guide, I think we know the answer to that question.
Reuters reported two weeks ago, for example, that some of Pulte’s close relatives allegedly did what Pulte accused Cook of doing. ProPublica reported around the same time that three prominent members of the president’s team — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin — also allegedly ran into the same problem. (All three denied wrongdoing in a statement to ProPublica.)
The list is apparently still growing. CNBC reported:
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent once agreed to call two different houses his ‘principal residence’ at the same time — a similar claim to the one that President Donald Trump cited when he tried to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, according to a report Wednesday. Documents show that on the same day in September 2007, Bessent agreed that homes in both Bedford Hills, New York, and Provincetown, Massachusetts, each would be his principal residence, Bloomberg reported.
.......Nevertheless, the similarities add to the White House’s headaches, especially given the severity of the allegations the president and his team have levied against Cook.
For his part, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California, another of Pulte’s targets, recently argued, “Donald Trump has made mortgage fraud accusations his weapon of choice to attack people standing in his way and people standing up to him, like me. ... Should we expect Trump and his enablers at [the Justice Department] to make sensational accusations against and investigate his own Cabinet?”
If recent history is any guide, I think we know the answer to that question.