California Rep. Eric Swalwell filed a lawsuit against Bill Pulte, the Trump-appointed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency on Tuesday.
The lawsuit argues that Pulte violated both the Privacy Act and the First Amendment in order to access his mortgage records and refer him to the Justice Department, and that Pulte was motivated by Swalwell’s vocal opposition to President Donald Trump’s policies.
In a statement shared to social media, Swalwell said, “Today I have filed a civil lawsuit against FHA director Bill Pulte for violating the Privacy Act and First Amendment. Director Pulte has combed through private records of political opponents. To silence them. There’s a reason the First Amendment – the freedom of speech – comes before all others.”
”As George Orwell said, ‘If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.‘”
In the lawsuit, Swalwell alleges that Pulte began “scouring databases at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac” in order to access his mortgage records, in violation of the First Amendment’s “bedrock prohibition on viewpoint-based retaliation.”
Pulte referred Swalwell to the Department of Justice earlier this month in relation to concerns around mortgage and tax fraud in connection with a home in D.C. owned by Swalwell.
The probe made Swalwell the fourth Democrat investigated for mortgage fraud during Trump’s second term alongside Sen. Adam Schiff, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and New York Attorney General Letitia James. They have all denied any accusations of wrongdoing, and none of the probes have yielded results, with James’ indictment being dismissed on Monday.
In addition to his protected First Amendment right to political speech, Swalwell argued that Pulte had violated the Privacy Act of 1974, which forbids federal agencies from disclosing sensitive information about an individual unless authorized by law.
Swalwell, who announced his plan to run for governor of California on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last week, argues in his lawsuit that Pulte’s probe has harmed his reputation “at a critical juncture in his career: the very moment when he had planned to announce his campaign for Governor of California.”
Swalwell is seeking to have his criminal referral to the DOJ withdrawn and is seeking damages for Privacy Act violations.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Federal Housing Finance Agency for comment.
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