Swell’s lawsuit alleges abuse of power in the mortgage investigation of Trump officials

Strongly denying allegations that he criminally misrepresented facts in his mortgage filings, Rep. Eric South (D-Dublin) on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Platt — accusing him of criminally misusing government databases to unfairly target political opponents of President Trump.

“Pult abused his position by using the databases of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — two government-sponsored enterprises — to access the personal mortgage records of several prominent Democrats,” South’s attorneys wrote in a federal lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. Department of Justice for prosecution.

They said Platt launched his attack on Southville at a particularly inopportune time, just as South was launching his campaign for governor of California.

Polt’s attack, Swell’s attorneys wrote, was “not only a gross error of fact” but “a gross abuse of power that violates the law,” a violation of Swell’s free speech right to criticize the president without fear of reprisal, and a violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, which prevents citizens from accessing private information. Information as a tool to undermine your political opponents.

The investigation, FHFA and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Platt has previously defended his work investigating the mortgage records of prominent Democrats, saying no one is above the law. His quotes specifically targeted Democrats, despite reports of Republicans doing the same on their mortgages.

Swell’s trial is the latest blow to the probe campaign, and is part of increased scrutiny of his unconventional nature and unorthodox methods — not just from the targets of his investigation but also from other investigators, according to one witness.

In addition to Swivel, the investigation by New York Atty. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has referred mortgage fraud charges to the Justice Department. Gen. Letitia James and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, who have all denied wrongdoing and suggested the charges were little more than political vendettas.

James was criminally prosecuted by an inexperienced, loyal federal prosecutor, particularly in Virginia, appointed by Trump, although a judge later dismissed the case on the grounds that prosecutor Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed. The judge also threw out the case against former FBI Director James Comey, another Trump opponent.

Cook’s attorneys condemned the investigation in a letter to the Justice Department, writing that “his decision to use the FHFA to selectively — and publicly — investigate and target the President’s appointed political enemies creates the unfounded impression that he is improperly coordinating with the White House to create weak pretexts for launching this investigation.”

Schiff also slammed Trump and Platt for targeting him and other Democrats, and expressed satisfaction at the dismissal of the cases against James and Comey, calling it “a victory for the rule of law.”

In recent days, federal prosecutors in Maryland — where Schiff’s case is being investigated — have also begun questioning the actions of Pulte and other Trump officials, according to Christine Besch, a Sacramento-area real estate agent and Republican congressional candidate who was called to Maryland last week to answer questions.

Platt alleges that Schiff broke the law by claiming primary residence for mortgages in both Maryland and California. Schiff has said he has never broken any laws and has always been forthcoming with his mortgage lenders.

Besch has been investigating Schiff’s mortgage records since 2020, and has repeatedly turned over documents about Schiff to the federal government — first to the Office of Congressional Ethics, then to the FHFA tip line and the FBI earlier this year, she told the Times.

When Trump later posted one of the Schiff mortgage documents to her social media platform, Besh said she believed it was the one she had submitted to the FHFA and the FBI, because it was spelled out exactly as she had spelled it out. Then, she noticed that she had lost Polt’s phone, and was later asked by Polt’s staff to email Polt the “complete file” she had worked on in the chef.

“They wanted to make sure I sent the whole file,” Besch said.

Besh said she was then interviewed via Google Meet by the FHFA Office of Inspector General and an FBI agent on Oct. 22. She then received a subpoena in the mail that she described as requiring her to be in Maryland last week. There, she was interviewed again, for about an hour, by the same inspector general’s office official and another FBI agent, she said — and was surprised that their questions focused more on her connections to people in the federal government than on Schiff.

“They wanted to know if I had talked to anyone else,” she said. “You know, what did I contact? Who did I contact?”

The chef’s office declined to comment. However, Schiff had previously told Justice Department officials that there was “substantial basis” for them to open an investigation into the probe and the campaign targeting Trump’s opponents, calling it a “highly irregular” and “egregious” effort.

The FHFA’s acting inspector general at the time Besh was first contacted, Joe Allen, was fired after he also raised questions.

On November 19, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) – the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee – sent a letter to the probe denouncing his investigation as politically motivated, demanding Allen’s firing and documents from the probe, including his contacts with the White House.

Swell’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit Tuesday that he never claimed primary residence in California or Washington, D.C., as alleged, and broke no laws.

They accused Platt of orchestrating a coordinated effort through a vast network of conservative influencers to spread accusations against the South, which they said “did damage”. [Swalwell’s] Notoriety at a key point in his career: the moment he planned to announce his campaign for governor of California.

They said the “widespread release of information about the home where his wife and young children live” also “exposed him to high security risks and caused him considerable pain and suffering.”

Swingle said in a statement that the panel worked to “silence political opponents” through “personal records,” which should not be allowed.

“There’s a reason the First Amendment — freedom of speech — comes before everything else,” he said.