Rep. Swalwell Sues US Housing Official, Accuses Him of Abusing Position

WASHINGTON—Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) has sued Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, alleging that he abused his position in making a criminal referral against him for mortgage fraud.

The lawsuit, filed on Nov. 25, accuses Pulte of scouring databases at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae for private mortgage records of prominent Democrats to “concoct fanciful allegations of mortgage fraud, which he referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution.”

Pulte referred Swalwell, a critic of President Donald Trump, to the Department of Justice for prosecution on Nov. 13 on charges of mortgage fraud. Pulte accused Swalwell of falsely claiming that the District of Columbia is his home and primary residence to secure a more favorable loan. The lawsuit calls the allegation “patently false.”

The lawsuit requests that Pulte withdraw his referral.

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,” according to the suit, which stated that Swalwell wrote on the affidavit that the home in the nation’s capital would primarily belong to his wife, Brittany.

The lawsuit calls the criminal referral of Swalwell “not only a gross mischaracterization of reality,” but also “a gross abuse of power that violated the law.”

The suit says that the criminal referral was a violation of the First Amendment, given Swalwell’s criticism of Trump. It also claims that the referral is a violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, which prohibits federal officials from using their access to private information of citizens as a way to hurt their political opponents.

Pulte’s “unlawful actions in this case were not the result of some inadvertent failure to comply with obscure or technical legal requirements. Rather, they represent a purposeful attack on core democratic norms and reflect a base desire to achieve exactly what the First Amendment and the Privacy Act exist to prevent: the use of government machinery to chill and silence the government’s critics,” the lawsuit states.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Federal Housing Finance Agency for comment from Pulte.

Swalwell, who has been in Congress since 2013 and is running for governor of California, has not been charged.

The Department of Justice has brought criminal cases related to mortgage fraud against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The case against James was dismissed this week after a judge found that the appointment of interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was unlawful.

Cook’s case will begin in January.