Raw Story

President Donald Trump's Federal Housing Finance Agency director, Bill Pulte, has emerged as a surprise attack dog for the president's agenda, fishing up a series of document discrepancies and using them as the basis to file shaky mortgage fraud complaints against various politicians and civil servants who have angered the president, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), New York Attorney General Letitia James, and most recently Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.

But it turns out his own financial record may not be squeaky clean.

According to Mother Jones, Pulte, who inherited a vast real estate fortune, "got his job in the administration about three years after his wife, Diana Pulte, donated $500,000 to a super PAC backing Trump. The donation was channeled through a Delaware shell company, ML Organization LLC, that Bill Pulte controlled. It came at a crucial moment, as the former president was just beginning to get his new campaign off the ground following his reelection defeat and the 2021 Capitol insurrection."

At the time, the watchdog group Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint alleging that this illegally obscured the source of the campaign fundraising.

"A resulting Federal Election Commission investigation concluded only this year, when the FEC quietly announced that the Trump-controlled PAC had erred by failing to properly disclose that Diana Pulte was the real source of the money," said the report — however, the FEC did not assert that either Bill Pulte or his wife broke the law.

A spokesperson for the housing agency told Mother Jones, “The FEC looked at the issue and determined that there was no violation by Director Pulte.” However, neither Pulte nor anyone at the agency addressed the fact that the paperwork falsely claimed an LLC, rather than his wife, donated the money, which "looks like the same kind of paperwork sloppiness — in information ultimately provided to the federal government — that Bill Pulte is now harassing Trump foes over."

Jeff Hauser of the watchdog group Revolving Door Project said, “I am extremely skeptical that Bill Pulte would come across 1/100th as well as Lisa Cook if his paperwork were scrutinized as closely as he has scrutinized Cook’s paperwork.”

All of this is occurring as litigation still continues over Trump's $550 million civil fraud judgment for his own mortgage valuation scams against the state of New York, which a state appeals court just tossed while upholding the fraud finding — a decision both parties are certain to appeal.

Ty Cobb, former White House attorney during President Donald Trump’s first term in office, said he had an immediate reaction upon hearing of the FBI raid on the home of former national security advisor John Bolton.

“I went down and locked my door,” Cobb said, speaking with National Public Radio in an interview published on Monday.

The Friday raid on Bolton’s home was just the latest example of what critics have characterized as a weaponization of the Justice Department against Trump’s political enemies. It was followed by a direct threat from Trump to investigate former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who, like Bolton, has become an outspoken critic of the president.

Cobb, who has spoken out against Trump since leaving his administration in 2018, said those who have gotten on the president’s bad side had every reason to be fearful.

“I think anybody that’s critical of the president has justifiable paranoia at this stage of the game,” Cobb said. “There is certainly retribution involved [in the raid on Bolton’s home], there is certainly an abandonment of traditional norms at the Justice Department in going back and doing this.”

Trump’s DOJ has opened multiple criminal investigations targeting individuals who drew the former president’s ire.

A criminal probe was launched in May against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who successfully prosecuted Trump for fraud, winning a $454 million judgement against the president and his real estate company. A DOJ official and Trump ally has drawn scrutiny for sharing a threatening social media post against James in posting a photo of themself standing outside her New York home.

And in July, Trump’s director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced a criminal probe into former President Barack Obama, suggesting he may have committed “treason” for pursuing an investigation of Russian interference into the 2016 election. Critics have largely labeled the probe into Obama as baseless.

Regarding the raid on Bolton’s home, which DOJ officials say related to mishandling of classified documents, Cobb said he didn’t think charges would stick, and characterized the incident not as an investigation into any wrongdoing, but rather, a “campaign of vengeance.”

“I’m not sure he will be charged, I differ from others on those who say he’s certain to be indicted,” Cobb said.

“That’s the sea change that people are ignoring here; this is no longer a Justice Department with independent thinkers acting ethically," Cobb added. "These people are so totally devoted to Trump and his campaign of vengeance, and they made that clear when they walked into the great hall and (Attorney General) Pam Bondi declared the fealty to the president as opposed to the Constitution, which is actually what their oath is for.”

A legal expert lost his cool on MSNBC on Monday night after President Donald Trump announced he fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, effective immediately, citing mortgage fraud allegations from his administration.

Norm Eisen, the founder and chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund, joined "The Weeknight" to discuss Cook's firing, a historic and unprecedented move that is expected to trigger court challenges, as Federal Reserve governors can only be removed “for cause."

Cook previously denied wrongdoing and said she had no intention of resigning.

MSNBC host Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee, noted Trump's decision to "summarily fire a Fed board member" comes in the "face of the fact that this body relates its history back to the early days of the founding of this country."

"Alexander Hamilton, Mr. President, you may recall him ... very bright lines were drawn with respect to the banking relationship between the Reserve and the government," said Steele.

Eisen said this firing was unlike other cases pending final disposition at his organization.

"We’re litigating some of them about the extent of the president’s firing power. And the Supreme Court said so in the Gwynne Wilcox case that the Fed is different," he emphasized, referring to a major legal battle over Trump's attempt to oust a member of the National Labor Relations Board without showing cause.

Eisen attacked the president in a fiery takedown.

"But Donald Trump doesn’t care about the Constitution! He doesn’t care that Congress has said you can only fire somebody for cause! He doesn’t care that he has no cause here!" he exclaimed.

Eisen asserted Cook's firing was based on a social media post by one of his "most-sharp partisans," Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

"This is irrelevant to him. You have somebody in the White House who himself is a convicted felon. Thirty-four counts. No wonder the federal courts have shot him down 200 times for illegal actions. This is another one," Eisen continued.

Eisen then asked Steele to hand over his copy of Trump's letter to Cook announcing her termination.

"And you know what? Remember — can I have that letter? This is Donald Trump’s letter," he said. "Do you know what Lisa Cook should do? What Nancy Pelosi did. She should tear that letter."

Eisen tore the letter in half and handed it back to Steele.

"Now you’ll need to tape it for the rest of the segment," he concluded.

Watch the clip here or at this link.

As President Donald Trump threatens to use his authority to deploy more National Guard units to various U.S. cities, one expert on authoritarian regimes is sounding the alarm that Trump could end up irreparably damaging the U.S. military's reputation as a result.

While speaking to MSNBC host Jason Johnson, New York University professor and author Ruth Ben-Ghiat said Trump's use of the military to perform domestic law enforcement duties was a page out of the playbook of some of the world's most notorious far-right dictators. She argued that Trump was attempting to condition the population to seeing the military on their streets on an everyday basis.

"Part of this is, of course, intimidation. And the optics of it are very important to this administration," she said. "They want Americans — starting with [Los Angeles, California], where you had actual Marines as well as National Guard there — they want Americans to become habituated to the idea of state security forces and military being used to police civilians."

According to Ben-Ghiat, other authoritarian regimes in the past that have used the military as a state security force have seen the military lose the trust and support of the U.S. population as it becomes more closely associated with the current regime. She pointed to Chile under far-right dictator Agosto Pinochet as one example, and said that the National Guard (which is typically made up of civilians on temporary duty as first responders following a natural disaster) could soon face the same fate.

"The state security forces and the military end up losing their integrity," she explained. "And instead of being used like the National Guard to help Americans, or like the military to guard us from foreign adversaries, they become the adversary to the people, and they lose all of their integrity and their soul and their honor, and people come to hate them and that is a bad outcome for these forces."

Fox News reported last week that Trump is using his Title 32 authority (which doesn't go against the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878) to deploy the National Guard to 19 different states by the end of September, as part of a mission to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He has also threatened to have the military occupy U.S. cities like Chicago and New York City similar to Washington D.C.

Former Army Major General Randy Manner (Ret.) told CNN earlier on Monday that Trump's use of the National Guard in this way, while technically legal, was nonetheless "abhorrent" in how he was selectively sending the military to Democratic-run cities in blue states. Manner compared the president's deployment of "specialized units" of guardsmen to "Germany in the 1930s."

Watch Ben-Ghiat's segment below, or by clicking this link.

President Donald Trump on Monday night threatened to hike tariffs and impose export restrictions on countries that tax or regulate American tech companies.

Trump vowed on his Truth Social platform to "stand up" to countries that he said "attack our incredible American Tech Companies."

"Digital Taxes, Digital Services Legislation, and Digital Markets Regulations are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology," he asserted. "They also, outrageously, give a complete pass to China's largest Tech Companies. This must end, and end NOW!"

Trump added that, "With this TRUTH, I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country's Exports to the U.S.A., and institute Export restrictions on our Highly Protected Technology and Chips."

He concluded that neither the U.S. nor tech firms are a "piggy bank" or a “doormat” for other nations any longer.

"Show respect to America and our amazing Tech Companies or, consider the consequences!" he said.

The Wall Street Journal noted that Trump’s threat came just hours after he met with President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea, where lawmakers are weighing a proposal to regulate online tech platforms. The plan has faced opposition from U.S.-based companies and was previously criticized by Trump’s trade chief.

President Donald Trump isn’t just orchestrating a National Guard-led takeover of Washington, D.C. – he’s rolling out new measures, including banning the city’s cashless bail system and flag burning as part of a broader campaign targeting the district.

According to columnist Amanda Marcotte in Salon, this is all part of Trump’s attack agenda, engineered to provoke misery rather than protect public safety.

"Don’t get me wrong: The MAGA base loves this so-called 'crackdown,'" Marcotte wrote. "But not because it’s making D.C. safe. They love that it’s making D.C. miserable. They appear to know the victims of this charade aren’t criminals, but ordinary people just trying to live their lives. MAGA is getting sadistic joy out of terrorizing ordinary people whose only 'crime' is living in a diverse, vibrant and majority Democratic city, instead of Cracker Barrel America.

Marcotte points out that the soldiers and federal police are primarily concentrated in low-crime tourist zones such as the White House, Capitol, and National Mall, with federal agents even marching through Georgetown, where zero violent crimes have been reported in 2025.

Trump dispatched several hundred additional National Guard soldiers from red states around the country. The result has been large groups of soldiers standing around in the heat and humidity of the area without much to do.

Meanwhile, neighborhoods actually affected by crime are being ignored. City officials pointed out that violent crime in the District is at a 30-year low, yet Trump’s intervention has made residents feel less safe. Since the takeover began, restaurant reservations have dropped by 31 percent, despite the city celebrating its annual “Restaurant Week,” typically meant to boost business during the summer exodus.

August is usually a slow period in D.C. because residents leave town, Congress is in recess, and lobbyists are scarce. This year, with the federal presence, the situation worsened. Despite these facts, the White House claims restaurant traffic is up — a claim Marcotte describes as “hilariously false.”

"D.C. is a real city full of people," Marcotte wrote. "It’s not Patriot Disneyland for people who are mad they can’t find the Applebee’s among all the Ethiopian joints. That’s the 'crime' Trump is so mad about, which is why he’s also pushing for $2 billion to 'have this place beautified' — a terrifying proposition for anyone who has witnessed his love of plastering everything with cheap gold paint."

Vice President J.D. Vance has insisted the crackdown is about freeing D.C. from lawlessness, while White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has lashed out at critics, insisting only “stupid white hippies” are mad about the occupation. He’s gone so far as to say Black residents support the deployment, contradicting polls showing 80 percent of Black D.C. residents oppose the National Guard’s presence.

Videos of law enforcement harassing residents or dismantling anti-Trump protest banners are being shared and celebrated, especially by the MAGA base, who appear to take “sadistic joy” in the disruption. Marcotte contends that the focus is not on real criminality but on targeting cultural difference—punishing residents for living in a diverse, Democratic city. Trump’s rhetoric about “retribution” and “revenge” echoes through his campaign, and D.C.—where he won only 6% of the vote—is now in the crosshairs. The effort is consistent across other blue cities, while actual crime hotspots in red-state cities are ignored.

As Marcotte explained, the real “crime” targeted by this takeover is not violence or public disorder but the lifestyles and values of city dwellers—people who read books, explore diverse cuisines, and celebrate different identities. Trump supporters appear gleeful, seeing abuse faced by D.C. residents under the occupation as just reward for living in a city they deem foreign and hostile to their worldview.

For Marcotte and many city residents, the federal occupation is less about safety and more about a performative and authoritarian power grab meant to punish D.C.’s cosmopolitan character.

Read the full report here.