A social media campaign by the head of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s federal regulator aimed at driving Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell from office raises “significant questions” about his judgment, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren claimed in a broadside over the weekend.
Warren, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, was one of 43 senators who voted against confirming President Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, housing scion Bill Pulte, in March.
Before Pulte’s confirmation hearing, Warren requested that Linda Yaccarino, CEO of the social media platform X, provide copies of more than 25,000 posts Pulte had allegedly deleted from the site, saying lawmakers needed them to “evaluate his policy positions, temperament, and fitness to serve.”
In a July 20 letter to Pulte, Warren says those concerns now seem “prescient,” alleging that “instead of working to fulfill your mission as regulator and conservator” of Fannie and Freddie, Pulte has “spent recent weeks intensely focused on convincing President Trump to illegally fire Chair Powell.”
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In July alone, Pulte has posted or reposted 114 attacks on Powell, Warren alleged — including a cartoon meme depicting Powell floating in a fountain in front of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters.
The Fed’s headquarters are in the midst of a $2.5 billion renovation that has served as Pulte’s rallying call for firing the Fed chair — he’s accused the Fed chair of lying to Congress about the project.
The Federal Reserve and Powell himself dispute accusations leveled by White House budget director Russell Vought that the project includes lavish features or that Fed skirted the approval process.
Warren suggested that in addition to swimming outside of his lane, Pulte should have better things to do.
“Your job is to manage FHFA, oversee our nation’s mortgage market, and lower costs for American families — full stop,” Warren scolded.
Pulte’s “prolific activity on X” — and reports that he drafted a letter for President Trump to fire Powell — are “abnormal,” Warren claimed.
“Your behavior raises significant questions about your judgement and commitment to operating FHFA in a responsible, competent, and lawful manner,” she concluded.
Pulte posted a response Monday on X, in which he referred to himself in the third person.
Bill Pulte
“Senator Warren, in her typical hypocritical manner, spends her own days on social media attacking President Trump and others, like Director Pulte, who are fixing the broken Biden-Powell housing market,” Pulte wrote.
But according to a July 17 Wall Street Journal report, Pulte’s attacks on Powell have also “irritated some senior administration officials,” who view them as “inappropriate.”
Appearing on CNBC Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called for a review of “the entire Federal Reserve” rather than accusing Powell himself of wrongdoing.
“While I have no knowledge or opinion on the legal basis for the massive building renovations being undertaken on Constitution Avenue, a review of the decision to undertake such a project by an institution reporting operating losses of more than $100 billion per year should be conducted,” Bessent posted on X.
An industry trade publication, Asset-Backed Alert, on July 11 reported that Pulte was on “thin ice” with the Trump administration over the lack of communication preceding the FHFA director’s July 8 announcement that Fannie and Freddie were to begin using a new credit score, VantageScore 4.0, that day.
FHFA later clarified that Fannie and Freddie can’t start accepting loans evaluated using the new score until they update their selling guides, documents that spell out the detailed procedures lenders must follow.
Asset-Backed Alert reported Friday that it will take many participants in the mortgage market “well into next year” to begin using VantageScore 4.0.
The Trump administration has stood behind Pulte in statements to reporters, and Freddie Mac issued a press release Monday congratulating Pulte on encouragement he received from Trump himself.
“KEEP MOVING FORWARD, WILLIAM, DON’T LET THE RADICAL LEFT WEAKLINGS STOP YOU!” Trump said Sunday in a Truth Social post that Pulte pinned to his X profile.
After being confirmed as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Pulte fired 14 board members at Fannie and Freddie and made himself the chair of both companies. Warren and nine of her Senate Banking colleagues have questioned the legality of that move.
As FHFA director, Pulte has eliminated Fannie and Freddie programs and practices intended to boost lending in minority communities, protect borrowers from unfair or deceptive practices, and assess risks associated with climate change.
He’s also sent criminal referrals to the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that Trump political opponents New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, committed mortgage fraud (both deny the allegations, characterizing them as political retribution).
Trump said Sunday on Truth Social that he wants Schiff to go to prison.
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