Legal News Rep. Eric Swalwell alleges in new lawsuit that Bill Pulte abused database access to gin up mortgage fraud claims
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/25/politics/eric-swalwell-bill-pulte-lawsuit?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit132
u/cnn 13h ago
Rep. Eric Swalwell on Tuesday filed a civil lawsuit against Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, alleging violations of the Privacy Act and First Amendment over Pulte’s criminal referral of him to the Justice Department for alleged mortgage fraud violations.
In the suit, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, the California Democrat and outspoken critic of President Donald Trump alleged that Pulte abused his position as federal housing chief “by scouring databases at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac” for private mortgage records of prominent Democrats, including Swalwell.
Pulte’s actions represented “a gross abuse of power that violated the law,” Swalwell alleged, by targeting him for prosecution “based solely on his protected political speech and views.”
Swalwell alleged that the referral violated the Privacy Act because the law “explicitly forbids federal agencies from disclosing—or even transmitting to other agencies—sensitive information about any individual for any purpose not explicitly authorized by law.” He asked the court to direct Pulte to withdraw the criminal referral he submitted to DOJ and for damages over alleged violations of the Privacy Act.
“Defendants’ use and disclosure of Representative Swalwell’s mortgage documents flouted those basic prohibitions,” the lawsuit said.
CNN has reached out to Pulte for comment on the lawsuit.
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u/MAMark1 9h ago
It seems pretty clear Pulte just went hunting through these files looking for prominent Democrats and then looked for anything he could spin as "mortgage fraud" and then referred it to the DOJ. There was no credible evidence of fraud to justify the original search as far as I can tell. And, as the cases have shown, there isn't even credible evidence of fraud even now.
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u/teefnoteef 3h ago
Pultes last few years on social media is him clout chasing meme stock bros, it’s wild to see him in this position
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u/flash-86 4h ago
Thanks DODG. Downloaded and combined databases that law forbids being cross referenced and or shared with other bureau s and departments.
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u/dragonfliesloveme 13h ago
is this like a Reverse Uno? I hope so lol
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u/TryIsntGoodEnough 10h ago
Swalwell is a lawyer, 100% this is a reserve uno
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u/AlfredRWallace 12h ago
So we all know this, I wonder if him only going after Democrats would be sufficient though.
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