Originally published at: Trump Is Accusing Foes With Multiple Mortgages of Fraud. Records Show 3 of His Cabinet Members Have Them. - TPM – Talking Points Memo
This story first appeared at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. The Trump administration has vowed to go after anyone who got lower mortgage rates by claiming more than one primary residence on their loan papers. President Donald Trump has used it…
Corporate “journalism” reacts:
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And then there is Ken Paxton (TX AG, R, 3rd Ring of Hell) and his many mortgages for properties that are all his primary residence. Nobody can white-collar-crime as well as Paxton and get away with it. We await Pulte’s shock & horror.
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This is exactly what you find in totalitarian dictatorships, selective prosecutions and being guilty not upon any findings but upon a dictators dictates.
The important thing to understand is that we are all Lisa Cook. You may imagine that your legal and financial history is so blameless that there’s no way MAGA can come after you. If you believe that, you’re living in a fantasy world. Criticize them or get in their way, and you will become a target.
Noting that Donald Trump accusing others of mortgage fraud is like Al Capone wanting to prosecute others for bootlegging. This is selective prosecution on steroids and nobody is safe.
But the shear hypocrisy in which supporters of Donald Trump, a convicted felon, supporting the use of what are at worst jaywalking tickets to persecute enemies proves that they have no respect for the law. I mean you either believe in the American judicial system or you don’t.
To say that Donald Trump and those on your side who grab women “by the pussy” being convicted of crimes is political and should be ignored but the smallest infraction by your opponents deserves full prosecution of the law proves that to be a Republican you must be a hypocrite of the worst kind. The kind that believes the law only serves to protect and not bind you but bind and not protect others from you. In fact they are only Republicans because they believe they are the “privileged”.
Such a legal system, that says any prosecution of you and your group for breaking laws is political yet other are held the strictest standards and only need to be accused by you or someone in your group is exactly the legal system you find not in democracies but in totalitarian dictatorships.
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Always remember this maxim:
“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be
in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside
out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”
-Frank Wilhoit
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For my friends everything, for my enemies the law.
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I love how most spokespeople for the Republicans immediately resort to ad hominem attacks.
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Just wondering … does trump hold mortgages on Trump Tower property, on Bedminster or on Mar-a-Lago? How about his foreign properties?
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My sources have explained the key legal doctine: It’s Okay If You’re a Republican. (IOKIYAR).
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Mortgage fraud is a crime under STATE LAW, too. Beginning to wonder if the attorney general of one or more of these blue states should take a look. Perhaps Duffy needs to see a state subpoena for his real estate records from New Jersey, Zeldin from New York, or Chavez-DeRemer from Oregon. Having three of Trump’s cabinet facing possible prosecutions for mortgage fraud in their own states might send the right message.
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Some great journalism there. I’m sure there are more in the same boat, just different states have different rules so not all can be brought to light. Since the GQP bleat so much about it and do bullshit moves all the time, some Dem congresscritter (preferably Schiff) needs to send a sternly-worded letter to the DoJ calling for a criminal investigation into these heinous acts by the Trumpites.
Of course ZFE will ignore it. I do think Cook is semi-dodgy but “everybody does it” is the main defense, though not ideal. If Schiff really did get House legal advice, good for him.
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The alleged victims are the banks who have discretion to give mortgages at whatever rates they want?
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Actually, I await the discovery of Pulte’s second “primary” residence, any day now.
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How about looking to see how many primary mortgages Mr. Trump has in his name, or the names of his family members.
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More importantly, does the signing of a contract indicating a home loan is for a primary residence invalidate the voting documentation for out of state registration, indicate a conflicting primary residency in another state, etc.
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I know this is being spun in a tendentious way, but as to the substance, I am wondering which term actually gets used in these loan documents–“primary”, or “principal”?
The second word seems more plastic in common usage. Cornell’s Legal Information Institute defines it as “a person or thing that is more important than others when identified for a particular purpose.”
If I regularly work and reside for substantial periods in DC and in LA, I could envision having main–ie, principal–residences in both places, as distinct from any vacation home or rental properties I might also own.
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Pulte is also one of the country’s biggest profiteers off the backs of Home_Depot_Parking_Lot day laborers who his company, laundered through layers of contractors and subcontractors, hired illegally.
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Far Hills, NJ is a very snooty, pricey burgh.
I avoid it.