Rep. Eric Swalwell is suing Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, accusing him of abusing his position to “concoct fanciful allegations of mortgage fraud” against the prominent critic of President Donald Trump.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday says it is “patently false” that Swalwell, D-Calif., claimed a Washington, D.C., home as his primary residence, and that Swalwell “explicitly disclaimed any intent to occupy the District of Columbia home as his primary residence in a sworn affidavit attached to his mortgage agreement.” That affidavit “made clear that the home would be his wife’s primary residence—not his own” and the lawsuit says Swalwell “was and remains a permanent resident of California.”
The lawsuit accuses Pulte of targeting Swalwell over his constitutionally protected political speech, breaching “the First Amendment’s bedrock prohibition on viewpoint-based retaliation.” It also says that Pulte’s referral violates the Privacy Act of 1974, which was enacted “in the wake of President Nixon’s campaign against his political enemies.”
The suit notes that Pulte has made referrals against Trump’s political foes, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook, and says there are no known lawsuits against anyone who supports Trump. The case against James was tossed this week; Schiff and Cook have not been charged.
Earlier this month, NBC News first reported on a letter that Pulte sent to the Justice Department about Swalwell’s mortgage. Swalwell’s lawsuit says the leak of Pulte’s DOJ referral letter to the media “occurred with remarkable speed.”
A spokesperson for Pulte did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. A spokesperson for the Justice Department also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Swalwell alleged that shortly after NBC News published an article on the criminal referral, “prominent conservative commentators and accounts” released “specific details about the referral,” like the value of his home. The lawsuit says that “coordinated nature of these disclosures is further evidenced by the fact that they appeared online before DOJ had received any written referral from Pulte.”
The disclosures, Swalwell said, “harmed Plaintiff’s reputation at a critical juncture in his career: the very moment when he had planned to announce his campaign for Governor of California.” He added, “the widespread publication of information about the home where his wife and young children reside has exposed him to heightened security risks and caused him significant anguish and distress.”
Eric Swalwell sues Trump official over mortgage fraud accusations
