Justice Department is examining handling of mortgage fraud investigation
into Sen. Adam Schiff
[November 21, 2025]
By BRIAN SLODYSKO, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is examining the handling of
the mortgage fraud investigation into Sen. Adam Schiff, including the
potential involvement of people who claimed to be acting at the behest
or direction of two Trump administration officials who have been pushing
the probe of the California Democrat, according to a document reviewed
by The Associated Press.
Federal authorities involved in the Schiff investigation in Maryland
interviewed a Republican congressional candidate on Thursday who has
promoted the mortgage fraud allegations against the lawmaker and quizzed
her about any communications she may have had with Justice Department
official Ed Martin and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill
Pulte. The interview came after the woman received a subpoena seeking
information about communications she may have had with people claiming
to be working at the direction of Pulte and Martin.
Christine Bish, a real estate agent who is running for a congressional
seat in California, told the AP that she was prepared to speak to
investigators about her own yearslong effort to draw attention to
mortgages held by Schiff, who has homes in California and Maryland. But
authorities instead were focused on potential interactions she has had
with Pulte and Martin, Bish said.
“I expected to be asked questions, a lot of questions, about, ’How did
you come about investigating Adam Schiff and what were your findings?”
Bish said. “What they wanted to know was if I was in communication with
Ed Martin or Director Pulte — and I was not.”
Bish said she kept trying to return to the Schiff allegations, but that
the officials “are trying to, in my opinion, investigate the
investigators.”
Trump allies attack his political foes
The revelation that authorities are turning their attention to the
handling of the Schiff investigation is likely to bring fresh scrutiny
to the already criticized push by Pulte and Martin to investigate Trump
political foes for mortgage fraud.
Their effort has been plagued by missteps, including overhyped
allegations that were easily refuted, as well as the revelation that
ethics officials at the agency Pulte leads were investigating whether he
and his allies had improperly accessed mortgage data for those he has
accused of fraud.
In recent months, Bish had been contacted by multiple times by Robert
Bowes, who worked in the first Trump administration and purported to
work for Pulte, according to a person familiar with the conversations
who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to concern about
retribution.
Bowes, who is listed on the subpoena, asked Bish to investigate the
mortgages of multiple people, the person said. On one occasion, Bowes
asked Bish to serve as a source to a national news outlet he claimed was
working on a negative story about mortgages held by Deputy Attorney
General Todd Blanche, the person said.
Bowes did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Pulte did not respond to a message seeking comment. A message seeking
comment was also left with a spokesperson for Martin. The Justice
Department declined to comment.
In August, the department named Martin as a special prosecutor to help
conduct investigations into Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia
James. Prosecutors have separately issued subpoenas as part of a
mortgage fraud investigation into Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve
governor whom Trump has sought to fire. Last week, Pulte also referred
Rep Eric. Swalwell, a California Democrat, to the Justice Department for
investigation.
[to top of second column]
|
All four deny the allegations.
The investigation into Schiff is being conducted by prosecutors in
Maryland, though the status of the inquiry is unclear. The
investigation into James resulted in criminal charges last month in
Virginia. She has pleaded not guilty and, in a filing this week, her
lawyers decried what they said was “outrageous government conduct"
that resulted in her indictment.
Bish told the AP that she previously submitted her work on Schiff to
congressional ethics officials, but that nothing came of it. After
Pulte put out a call for mortgage fraud tips, she resubmitted her
research to the agency he leads as well as the FBI. Pulte called her
and left a message asking for more information, she said, but Bish
said she has never had a conversation with him.
The subpoena Bish received seeks any communications she may have had
with Pulte or any persons claiming to be working at his “behest,”
including anyone claiming to be Pulte’s chief of staff. It also
seeks information about communications with anyone “claiming to be
working for or at the direction of” the Justice Department or
“anyone claiming to be acting at the direction or request of”
Martin.
Martin, who also serves as director of the Justice Department’s
“Weaponization Working Group,” was tapped to help with the mortgage
fraud investigations after his nomination to become Washington,
D.C.’s top federal prosecutor was pulled over bipartisan concerns
about his modest legal experience, divisive politics and support for
Jan. 6 rioters.
Spotlight on Bill Pulte
Since his arrival in Trump’s Washington, Pulte has drawn a spotlight
to the normally staid Federal Housing Finance Agency he oversees.
The 37-year-old scion of a home construction fortune has sought to
ingratiate himself with Trump by publicly attacking some of the
president’s longtime political antagonists.
But in recent weeks, he's had a series of high-profile blunders.
Earlier this month, he persuaded Trump about the allure of a 50-year
mortgage as a way to increase home buying and building, a proposal
that was widely criticized because it would drastically increase the
overall price of a loan.
Pulte, who appointed himself chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,
has also rattled the housing industry by purging ethics officials
and top leaders of the two government-sponsored lending giants,
which hold trillions of dollars in assets.
Some of those who have been fired were investigating whether Pulte
and his allies used non-public mortgage data as the basis for his
criminal referrals against Schiff and others. Other top executives
at Fannie Mae were forced out last month after they voiced alarm
that a Pulte confidant, acting on his behalf, had shared
confidential pricing data with Freddie Mac, a top competitor.
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi this week, Abbe Lowell, an
attorney for James and Cook, suggested Pulte was perhaps the one who
should be investigated.
“These improprieties by Director Pulte may be grounds for your
agency or others in the government to review his conduct,” Lowell
wrote. “I am pointing them out because they undercut his criminal
referrals."
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
