WASHINGTON DC – The Justice Department is investigating possible issues with the mortgage fraud investigation into California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff that is run by two Trump administration political appointees, Ed Martin and Bill Pulte.
Bill Pulte is the grandson of William J. Pulte, founder of Pulte Homes, the company grew from its early roots in the Bloomfield Hills area to become a major national homebuilder.
Ed Martin, left, and Bill Pulte, right.
Conspiracy Claims
One witness, a Republican from California named Christine Bish, spoke to a federal grand jury in Maryland on Thursday morning. Investigators had sought information about the possibility that there was a person who claimed to be working for Pulte or Martin, but was not properly deputized, according to two sources familiar with the developing situation.
Bish previously said publicly she believed she had information to share about Schiff related to his mortgages.
Bish told CNN Thursday that she went before the grand jury with the understanding that she was providing information in an federal investigation into Schiff, but that prosecutors “seemed more concerned” about looking into whether “there was conspiracy or collusion between me and Pulte or me and Ed Martin.”
She said she’s never spoken to the two men outside of an occasional light message on social media, but that her independent probe into Schiff was submitted to Pulte’s office earlier this year and later referred to the Justice Department, where it was handed off to Martin.
“If they’re trying to tie me into some kind of clandestine conspiracy, it’s not there, and the best way to protect myself is to be open and honest and public,” she said, adding later: “Something’s not adding up. And I haven’t gotten to the bottom of it yet, but I will.”
Weaponization Working Group
Martin holds four titles at the Justice Department: US Pardon Attorney, Special Attorney for Mortgage Fraud, Associate Deputy Attorney General, and director of the Weaponization Working Group. Pulte is the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
The inquiry, according to the additional sources, include the office of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche at Justice Department headquarters looking into the work of people who may have been dispatched or held themselves out to witnesses improperly around the mortgage fraud investigation.
It is not yet clear the subjects of the investigation, or what criminal theories may be looked at by investigators. It is against the law, generally, to impersonate a federal official.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
