Submitted by Marisa Taylor and Chris Partice
Washington (Reuters) -D. Trump Herb, accusing the president’s political enemies for a mortgage fraud, missed through the General Inspector General of his agency, executed by criminal referrals based on seven people familiar with the subject, bypassing the rules to ensure that the federal officials
Bill, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, this year earlier in criminal referrals against goals, including Lisa Cook, federal reserves governor, president Donald Trump tried to forgive, for suspected crimes related to their mortgages. During the usual procedures, the panel has avoided the internal standby of that agency, usually an office to submit such referrals, asking the Cook and two other famous officials to investigate the Justice Department.
“The transfer was not derived from OIG,” said one of these people using a short office of the General Inspector. “It surprised people.”
Cook denied the charges on the panel.
Did not respond to the request to comment on this story.
Representatives of the Department of Justice and the Second Inspector General of FHFA refused to comment. The White House Press Service did not respond to the requests to comment.
The charges of the Trump’s administration’s constant efforts to seek criminal accusations against the perceived enemies of presidential policies and politics. Last month, the campaign led to a criminal charges against the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In the case of Cook, legal experts criticized Trump-Pulte’s efforts as the transition displaced the senior policy from the federal reserve-dependent authorities, a critical US economy, which the president increasingly sought to lean on his will.
Trump said the investigations were for “justice”, not for political purposes. “It really is about justice,” he told reporters after being accused of former FBI director. “It’s not a revenge.”
By contacting the Department of Justice directly and publicly implementing accusations that have not been fully investigated, the panel has terminated decades of precedent and ethics rules, people who have become familiar with the matter said. Five of these people and independent legal experts consulted with Reuters said the steps of the panel ignored the so -called “impartial” rules, among other rules to prevent political witch hunting.
“You cannot distinguish between people for prosecution for political reasons,” said Richard Painter, former associate adviser to President George W. Bush and the highest ethics lawyer for that administration. “This is an obvious violation of the federal law.”
In the “Partition” actions, legal experts said Reuters, violates various ethical norms and regulations. In addition to the “impartiality” rules to ensure that government officials remain by impartial decision -making, experts said it could ruin the agency’s procedures, protection under the Privacy Act and the constitutional right to a proper process under the fifth amendment.
As the ethical rules may also be interpreted by the administration’s desire to implement them, it is unclear whether the actions of the panel will harm his accusations of the mortgage fraud or affect the authority as the director of the agency. The Trump herself praised on the panel, sipping it in one social media post, writing, “Don’t let the radical left the weak stop you!”
The president’s impetus to political opponents with prosecution. At the end of September, the Great Jury accused James Comey, former FBI director and a longtime object of short criticism in an alleged false case. The indictment arrived shortly after Trump urged the Prosecutor General to prosecute him to the Social Media record.
Comey denied any illegal actions.
Virko’s investigation comes when Trump seeks a more common federal reserve, a US central bank. Although the Fed has long been a political interference, the “panel” joined the short and other administrative officials criticizing its managers and urging them to reduce interest rates more aggressively. Last week, the Supreme Court refused to allow Mr Trump to dismiss Cook, stopping the question until he could hear a detailed argument in the White House’s proposal to remove it.
Almost immediately after his March approval FHFA, he became an eloquent voice of the administration on the panel. FHFA is a low level agency created after 2008. The financial crisis to maintain elements of the mortgage lending sector.
Within a few months of arrival, his new chief aggressively attacked Cook. In August, by quoting the alleged violations of his mortgage documents, his panel made his request to investigate the Fed Governor by directing the Social Media and accusing the “obvious mortgage fraud”.
In order to ensure the probes initiated by the panel, the legal experts said, the politically appointed head of the Federal Agency will usually ask the Inspector General to investigate the alleged unlawful acts. In many federal agencies, the Office of the General Inspector exists independently to investigate fraud, waste and abuse.
Any evidence received during the probe, then the General Inspector General, rather than the head of the agency, would indicate the criminal investigators. Under no circumstances, these experts added whether the participating officials are not expected to disclose the investigation, regardless of the presumption of innocence and potentially ruin the possibility of a fair court.
“One feature that criminal mortgages were political is that the referrals were made public,” said Andrew Tesman, a former federal prosecutor in Washington and Western Virginia, investigating mortgage fraud cases. “It will never happen before.”
Shortly after the FHFA steering control, he created a new channel to receive anonymous tips on mortgage fraud. The agency would wait for the advice from “anything and all”. In April, he wrote “X” on the social media site. The new line of tips perplexed some employees, and six people who met on the issue said Reuters because the agency already had a store overseen by the Second Inspector’s Office.
The Reuters could not determine if the panel had set up a new channel outside the department, which historically checked the claims for a mortgage fraud, and from the outset planned to avoid the General Inspector. The previous line of the tips, like the office of the General Inspector himself, was established in Design to prevent even the agency’s staff from interfering, three people who were familiar with his work said.
In addition to his campaign against Cook, he provided similar criminal referrals against New York Prosecutor General Letitia James and Democratic Congress, Adam Schiff. Trump called for the US Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute James, Schiff and Comomey on September 20. In the social post of truth.
James and Schiffas denied illegal actions.
None of the sending prompted the Department of Justice to report any criminal indictment. The Federal Prosecutor, who overseen James’ investigation, resigned in September after a short public stated that he had lost confidence in him.
Since the “Require” has been referred on the Reuters, FHFA officials and other federal agencies have collaborated with the Department of Justice after the rising probes. Officials included the FBI representatives, the Bureau of the General Inspector General of the Internal Income Service and Housing and City Development, the documents show.
The FBI and IRS did not respond to the requests to comment. Automated Email of the HUD General Inspector Bureau The letter stated that the office was closed due to the ongoing closure of the Government.
Last month, Reuters reported that mortgage documents related to one of the Cook residences showed that she had announced the Atlantic residence as a “holiday house” to the lender. The Declaration seems to be contrary to other documentations cited on the panel stating that Cook, allegedly an offer to ensure better lending conditions, has announced the house its main place of residence.
(Additional Sarah N. Lynch Reports. Edited by Paul Prada.)