Watchdog Calls for DOJ to Investigate Trump Cabinet Members and Texas Attorney General for Possible Mortgage Fraud
For Immediate Release: September 9, 2025
Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750
WASHINGTON – Campaign for Accountability (CfA) called on the Department of Justice to immediately open criminal investigations into potential mortgage fraud violations by three current Trump Cabinet members, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, as well as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, citing evidence each has claimed primary residence on more than one home. CfA’s letter follows a string of recent DOJ mortgage fraud investigations.
CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith stated, “With potential mortgage fraud now a top administration priority, it is imperative for DOJ to immediately investigate whether three members of the president’s cabinet and Texas’s top law enforcement officer have engaged in conduct FHFA Director Bill Pulte warns ‘could imperil the safety of the U.S. mortgage market.’”
According to DOJ, the agency has ongoing investigations into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA), and New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud. FHFA Director Bill Pulte explained in his August 15 criminal referral that potential crimes include wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, and false statements to financial institutions. State and federal tax laws may also be implicated.
According to recent reporting by ProPublica, publicly available mortgage records and financial disclosure documents reveal that Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer entered into two primary-residence mortgages in quick succession in 2021, including for a vacation home near an Arizona country club. The same reporting found that Transportation Secretary Duffy obtained primary-residence mortgages for homes in both New Jersey and Washington, D.C., and EPA Administrator Zeldin has concurrent primary-residence mortgages in Long Island and Washington, D.C.
An Associated Press report indicates Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, State Senator Angela Paxton, may have engaged in even more extensive violations, including taking homestead tax deductions on multiple properties and potentially violating mortgage terms by renting out properties they reportedly agreed to use only for personal residence.
Ms. Kuppersmith continued, “DOJ’s Justice Manual explicitly prohibits prosecutorial decisions based on political association, but the administration’s selective enforcement of mortgage fraud allegations reeks of exactly the sort of political weaponization the president has decried. If claiming multiple primary residences is criminal when Democrats do it, then Republicans must be held equally culpable.”
Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan watchdog organization dedicated to exposing misconduct and malfeasance in public life and holding those who act at the public’s expense accountable for their actions.