Trump Is Accusing Foes With Multiple Mortgages of Fraud. Records Show 3 of His Cabinet Members Have Them.

[Jilly_in_VA]

The Trump administration has vowed to go after anyone who got lower mortgage rates by claiming more than one primary residence on their loan papers.

President Donald Trump has used it as a justification to target political foes, including a governor on the Federal Reserve Board, a Democratic U.S. senator and a state attorney general.

Real estate experts say claiming primary residences on different mortgages at the same time is often legal and rarely prosecuted.

But if administration officials continue the campaign, mortgage records show there’s another place they could look: Trump’s own Cabinet.
Underscoring how common the practice is, ProPublica found that at least three of Trump’s Cabinet members call multiple homes their primary residences on mortgages. We discovered the loans while examining financial disclosure forms, county real estate records and publicly available mortgage data provided by Hunterbrook Media.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer entered into two primary-residence mortgages in quick succession, including for a second home near a country club in Arizona, where she’s known to vacation. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has primary-residence mortgages in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, has one primary-residence mortgage in Long Island and another in Washington, D.C., according to loan records.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-cabinet-mortgage-fraud

Let's go after THEM!

[underpants]

1. Bill Pulte's, Cook's main accuser, family did too

Exclusive-Bill Pulte accused Fed Governor Lisa Cook of fraud. His relatives filed housing claims similar to hers

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Michigan (Reuters) -Close relatives of the federal official who has accused a Federal Reserve governor of improperly claiming primary residence on two properties have declared the same status on two homes in two different states, public records show.

Mark and Julie Pulte, the father and stepmother of Bill Pulte, President Donald Trump’s appointee as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, since 2020 have claimed so-called “homestead exemptions” for residences in wealthy neighborhoods in both Michigan and Florida, according to the records. The exemption is meant to give a discount to homeowners on taxes for properties they use as their primary residence.

https://www.aol.com/news/exclusive-bill-pulte-accused-fed-210312697.html

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Cabinet Members?

He built an entire business "emprire" by borrowing money to pay off other borrowed money, then dodged the obligations through BKO.
Anybody he accuses of this need merely to respond that he is the greatest violator.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

3. WOW! A king's ransom in obscene properties......

If you've never seen Trump's GREED and OSTENTATION fully on display (wonder if he pays the proper taxes?) then FEAST YOUR EYES on all of his estates from "Town And Country" magazine from January 2025.

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/real-estate/news/a9285/donald-trump-house-photos/

NOTE: The short film at the bottom of the article has a snapshot view of Melania's "activities" as first lady from his first term.

THIS is a frozen snapshot jpg that's IRONIC IN THE EXTREME....




(WONDER what RFK, JR. thinks about that?)

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. We could also talk about a few SENATORS

Pretty sure several RepubliKKKans have multiples.
Not to mention those who don't even LIVE in their states (looking at YOU, Tuberville!).

But I know that Sen. Tim Kaine lives in Richmond. I even know where he goes to church (it's a majority-BLACK Catholic church; I went there once when I was looking for a church in Richmond and the worship was great, it's very welcoming, and if I were Catholic I'd go there too!)

[some_of_us_are_sane]

5. For SURE, Jilly in VA!

"Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone" .... they ALL better look in the mirror before they accuse.

[MineralMan]

6. Trump was found guilty of fraud in New York State.

He lied about property values multiple times to borrow money and avoid taxes.

So, he knows what he's talking about, I guess.

[yellowcanine]

7. Trump is accusing people of mortgage fraud?

You mean the kind where one “enhances” the square footage of a property in order to inflate the value?

[wiggs]

9. Certainly. But that makes it more sweet for TSF...not only does he use DOJ to go after his enemies, it is for the

same issues that he was convicted for. Talk about retribution dopamine on the TSF brain! Haven't seen much discussion in MSM on the irony aspect.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. MaddowBlog-Mortgage fraud allegations generate new political headaches for Team Trump

Donald Trump urged reporters to start digging into officials’ mortgage records. Two weeks later, he probably wishes he hadn’t offered that advice.

Mortgage fraud allegations generate new political headaches for Team Trump www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— @jimrissmiller.bsky.social 2025-09-08T18:23:32.648Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/mortgage-fraud-allegations-generate-new-political-headaches-team-trump-rcna229883

But the president’s challenge — perhaps reporters should “go check out the records” themselves — has proven to be interesting advice. ProPublica reported last week, for example:

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer entered into two primary-residence mortgages in quick succession, including for a second home near a country club in Arizona, where she’s known to vacation. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has primary-residence mortgages in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, has one primary-residence mortgage in Long Island and another in Washington, D.C., according to loan records.

A day later, Reuters advanced the broader story in an even more provocative way:

Close relatives of the federal official who has accused a Federal Reserve governor of improperly claiming primary residence on two properties have declared the same status on two homes in two different states, public records show. Mark and Julie Pulte, the father and stepmother of Bill Pulte, President Donald Trump’s appointee as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, since 2020 have claimed so-called ‘homestead exemptions’ for residences in wealthy neighborhoods in both Michigan and Florida, according to the records.

......That said, immediately after Pulte filed a criminal complaint against Cook with the Justice Department, quite a few observers made the case that the underlying issue is quite common and rarely prosecuted, which necessarily raised questions about selective enforcement and why the administration is going after the president’s perceived foes and not his allies who appear to have done the same thing.,,,,,

The senator added, “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.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. Lisa Cook's latest filing before the court of appeals disputes the fact that there was any mortgage fraud

Judge Cobb found that there was no cause to fire Lisa Cook. trump is appealing to the DC Circuit which has set a very short time frame for briefing.

Link to tweet

Here is Lisa Cook's filing which is a fun read.

Link to tweet

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.42372/gov.uscourts.cadc.42372.01208775253.0.pdf

I was pleased to see that this filing contained a footnote on the recently disclosed facts that showed that Lisa Cook did NOT commit mortgage fraud

6The complete property records reveal the opposite. See, e.g., Fed Governor Lisa Cook claimed 2nd residence as ‘vacation home,’ undercutting Trump fraud claims, Assoc. Press (Sept. 12, 2025), https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-lisa-cook trump-852820c83e5001ec3b6e2d14047965c9 (affirming, based on the review of bank documents, that Governor Cook designated her Atlanta property for use as a “Vacation Home”).

I have not seen the trump fling which was supposed to be flied this afternoon. I suspect that trump will object to these facts cited above.