The person heading the Federal Housing Financial Authority (FHFA), the agency overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, usually doesn’t get much attention. That’s not the case with the current director, Bill Pulte.

Pulte has been in the news constantly. It seems that he views his job as running through mortgage applications to see if he can find dirt on Donald Trump’s enemies. Thus far he has boasted about finding alleged violations in mortgage applications of New York Attorney General Letitia James, California Senator Adam Schiff, Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, and now California Representative Eric Swalwell.

All four of these people had incurred Trump’s wrath for various reasons. It’s far from clear that any of these people have actually broken the law. The issue is not just whether they checked the wrong box on a form. The issue is whether they tried to deceive a lender, a charge Trump was found guilty of in a civil trial in 2022. If, for example, a congressperson had checked a box indicated a home was a primary residence but also explained that as a member of Congress they needed two homes, it would be hard to win a conviction that they committed fraud.

In addition to Pulte’s fishing expeditions through the mortgage applications of Trump’s enemies, which were deemed improper by the agency’s acting inspector general, there is also the question of how we all know about them. If Pulte had followed ordinary procedures, he would pass any evidence he came across to the agency’s inspector general, who would then make a decision as to whether to pass it along to the Justice Department. The public would only know of any issues if, and when, the Justice Department issued an indictment.

By contrast, Pulte has publicly advertised his big catches. But if we think the only thing Pulte does for his paycheck is harassing Trump’s political enemies, we would be badly mistaken. It turns out that Pulte has come up with a scheme to make homeownership more affordable. Pulte’s brilliant........

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