Representative Eric Swalwell, one of President Trump’s most vocal critics in the House, said on Thursday that he was being targeted by the Trump administration after news reports that he had been referred to the Justice Department for a potential criminal investigation.
An accusation that Mr. Swalwell, Democrat of California, had committed mortgage and tax fraud was made on Wednesday by the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, according to the news reports. Mr. Pulte, a Trump appointee, has made similar allegations against the president’s other perceived enemies.
The referral for Mr. Swalwell, delivered to the Justice Department on Wednesday, claims he obtained several million dollars’ worth of loans and refinancing based on his declaration of primary residence in Washington, NBC News first reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Mr. Swalwell denied the allegations in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, saying that he had only one mortgage and a residence in California. He added that the Justice Department had not told him anything.
The Justice Department, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mr. Swalwell and his office did not immediately respond to requests for comment early Friday.
“This is, again, just Donald Trump doing everything he can to target his enemies,” Mr. Swalwell said in the interview. He added that he had the only surviving lawsuit against Mr. Trump, where he said he had begun to depose members of the Trump administration.
Mr. Swalwell also leads the Democrats on a new House panel to reinvestigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Mr. Trump has publicly urged the prosecution of his political opponents and weaponized mortgage fraud and the Justice Department against his critics. Previously, Mr. Pulte made mortgage fraud accusations against New York’s attorney general, Letitia James; Senator Adam Schiff of California; and a Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook.
All have denied wrongdoing, and only Ms. James has been charged with a crime related to her mortgage. Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, and the former F.B.I. director, James Comey, have also been indicted on separate charges.
“Like James Comey and John Bolton, Adam Schiff and Lisa Cook, Letitia James and the dozens more to come — I refuse to live in fear in what was once the freest country in the world,” Mr. Swalwell said in a statement on social media after the news reports of his criminal referral.
Mr. Swalwell added that it would not end his lawsuit against Mr. Trump.
That civil suit, filed in 2021, accuses Mr. Trump and several allies of inciting the attack on the Capitol and conspiring with rioters to try to prevent Congress from formalizing Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. The lawsuit is in its pretrial stages in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
John Yoon is a Times reporter based in Seoul who covers breaking and trending news.
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