Bill Pulte on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle

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MAGA media help federal housing chief weaponize his agency against Trump’s political opponents

Fox personalities and Roger Stone have repeatedly hosted Bill Pulte to spread his attacks on Federal Reserve officials and Democratic politicians

Written by Zachary Pleat

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Right-wing media hosts on cable and radio have helped Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte, who was a vociferous Trump supporter and major donor prior to his nomination to lead the agency, seemingly abuse his position to spearhead investigations into targets of President Donald Trump's retribution.

After a long campaign by Trump and his allies to pressure the Federal Reserve over interest rates, Pulte elevated the pressure by accusing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Fed board member Lisa Cook of crimes, and made similar accusations against Democratic officials Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had previously led impeachment and civil investigations of Trump, respectively.

Multiple news outlets and industry experts have pointed out that these actions are naked textbook authoritarianism and a weaponization of government against Trump’s political enemies, and many of Pulte’s MAGA media appearances seemingly confirm that he’s targeting Trump’s opponents for explicitly political purposes. On August 29, a Fox News segment about Trump’s effort to oust Cook from the Fed even admitted that Pulte’s campaign against her is about exerting political control of the independent central bank.

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  • Pulte was a Trump donor prior to his nomination to lead the FHFA

    • Revolving Door Project: “The Pultes have been big financial backers of Trump and Republican electoral campaigns through multiple election cycles,” including possibly illegal donations. The profile added: “In the 2022 election cycle, the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) alleged that Bill Pulte used a shell company to make $500,000 in illegal donations to Trump’s MAGA Inc Superpac.” According to Mother Jones, Pulte did not respond to questions about “the same kind of paperwork sloppiness—in information ultimately provided to the federal government—that Bill Pulte is now harassing Trump foes over.” [Revolving Door Project, 2/26/25; Mother Jones, 8/28/25]
    • New York Post: A Trump transition source stated that Pulte was under consideration for his nomination because “he was the largest donor to Trump’s PAC in 2022, … and he’s been a persistent donor to Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.” [New York Post, 11/12/24]
    • Politico: “The selection of Pulte — who frequently tweets praise of Trump — signals the administration wants a loyalist in the position” to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency. [Politico, 1/16/25]

  • Pulte has made public attacks and filed criminal referrals against targets of Trump’s ire

    • Pulte echoed Trump’s demands that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell lower interest rates for weeks before calling on him to resign in mid-June. Pulte made numerous social media posts beginning on May 26 demanding that Powell lower interest rates. On June 18, Pulte began demanding that Powell resign instead. Trump had been regularly badgering Powell to lower interest rates throughout his second term. [Twitter/X, 5/26/25, 5/27/25, 6/4/25, 6/18/25, 6/18/25, 6/18/25; CNBC, 6/6/25]
    • Pulte claimed that Powell lied to Congress about a renovation of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters building, called for a congressional investigation, and said Powell could be fired by Trump “for cause.” Weeks after making this statement, Pulte reportedly provided Trump with a draft letter to fire Powell. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wrote to Pulte in July to express concern over his “prolific activity” online and his “apparent decision to take time away from duties as FHFA Director to draft a letter for President Trump to fire Chair Powell,” calling these actions “abnormal” and saying they raise “significant questions about your judgement and commitment to operating FHFA in a responsible, competent, and lawful manner.” [Politico, 7/2/25; The New York Times, 7/19/25; U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, 7/21/25]
    • Pulte was also behind Trump’s dubious attempt to fire Fed board member Lisa Cook over claims of mortgage fraud. The New York Times reported that the accusations and attempted firing of Cook were done “in hopes of forcing down interest rates,” as “Trump has relentlessly attacked the politically independent Fed and its members.” Pulte accused Cook of “falsifying records to obtain more favorable terms on mortgages” and made a criminal referral to the Justice Department. Trump first called on Cook to resign, then days later announced that he had fired her. Cook, who has not been convicted of nor even charged with any crime as yet, sued the president in response and called his actions “unprecedented and illegal.” On August 28, Pulte made a second criminal referral against Cook. [The New York Times, 8/22/25; NBC News, 8/28/25; CNBC, 8/28/25]
    • Pulte also made a criminal referral of mortgage fraud against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who successfully sued Trump and his organization for fraud. After James filed a lawsuit against Trump and three of his adult children in 2022 for “submitting years of fraudulent financial statements,” Trump called her “racist” and “grossly incompetent.” Following the fraud verdict against him in 2024, Trump called it “weaponization against a political opponent.” [CBS News, 4/18/25; CNBC, 9/22/22; The Associated Press, 2/17/24]
    • Pulte made another criminal referral of mortgage fraud against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who served as chief manager of Trump’s first impeachment in 2020. The Los Angeles Times reported that the FHFA inspector’s general office specifically sought Schiff’s records from Fannie Mae investigators, explaining that a memo from the investigators to Pulte did not conclude a crime or “fraud” had been committed. In the past, Trump has repeatedly called Schiff an “enemy from within” the United States. [New York Post, 7/15/25; Los Angeles Times, 7/15/25; CNN, 10/20/24; The Sacramento Bee, 10/16/24]

  • MAGA media shows have repeatedly hosted Pulte to push his attacks, with many appearances strongly suggesting they’re political retribution

    • Trump political operative Roger Stone has repeatedly hosted Pulte to push his accusations against Trump’s targets. Pulte was a guest on Stone’s program on June 22, July 20, and August 24, during which he spoke about his accusations and criticisms against Powell, Cook, Schiff, and James. [Media Matters, 1/25/19; Twitter/X, 6/22/25, 7/20/25, 8/24/25]
    • After Fox Business host Charles Payne said it “looks like Jay Powell may be shifting gears to be more accommodative” on interest rates, Pulte demanded a 1% rate because “President Trump has come in and crushed inflation” and said: “Hopefully we have a new Fed chair very soon.” [Fox Business, Making Money with Charles Payne, 8/22/25]
    • Newsmax host Rob Schmitt gave credence to the idea that Pulte’s targeting of Trump opponents is about “getting even,” suggesting “this is the reckoning” because “the Democrats started this. They went after Trump.” Pulte, who was a major donor to Trump and other GOP causes, denied that accusation, saying: “Look, I'm not a politician. I'll leave the political stuff to other people.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 8/21/25]
    • Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo to Pulte: “We’re going to get to Lisa Cook and potential mortgage fraud in a moment, but it started with Russia collusion,” Trump’s impeachment, criminal charges, and “even January 6.” Pulte pushed his accusations against Cook and said “I believe the president has ample cause to fire” her. “I would be surprised if she’s not suspended by the Federal Reserve this week,” he added, calling her a “circus clown.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 8/21/25]
    • Fox News host Laura Ingraham called Pulte’s accusations against Schiff “poetic justice” because he “spent years obsessed with destroying Trump by any means necessary.” During Pulte’s August 20 interview on The Ingraham Angle, he bragged about targeting Trump opponents, saying: “I refer people every day to the Department of Justice, and the Department of Justice prosecutes cases like this all the time, Laura. And whether it's the Schiff case, or the Letitia James case, or this case, or all the other cases that we refer — this Cook one is not going away, and she can laugh all she wants but the law will catch up with her.” Pulte added: “She is going to resign, in my view, and if she doesn't resign, I do believe that the president has cause to fire her.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 8/20/25]
    • Fox host Charles Hurt celebrated Pulte’s referral of criminal charges against Schiff and James. Hurt said James “maliciously prosecuted” Trump, and Pulte said she “maliciously went after President Trump for bogus fraud charges — he’s the farthest thing from a fraudster.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 8/8/25]
    • As Bartiromo hosted Pulte to push complaints against Powell, Pulte called on the Fed chair to resign for not bowing to Trump’s wishes. Pulte said: “We have the most popular president in history. He just won a landslide mandate from the American people to be president of the United States. He's literally the most popular president we've ever had. But we have one guy, in the form of Jerome Powell, who just thinks that he is maybe more important than the economy and more important than everybody else by being a stubborn mule, as President Trump has called him. So it's a big problem, and Jerome Powell needs to resign.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 7/23/25]
    • After Ingraham aired criticism of “the Fed Mahal,” Pulte echoed Trump’s attacks on Powell as a “numbskull” and said: “The problem is we’ve got this Fed chair and he’s standing in the way of ultimate success, so we’ve got to get rid of him.” After Ingraham said Powell “hates the tariffs,” Pulte responded: “He hallucinates that they cause inflation. They didn’t cause inflation. It’s total nonsense. But he will resign, I’m very confident in that. Once he does, this economy will boom like never before.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 7/22/25]
    • Payne told Pulte “it makes me feel like maybe you’re right” that Powell should depart the Fed over Trump’s demands. During the interview, Pulte said Powell should leave the Fed because he’s “an obnoxious, arrogant, pompous person, and he’s saying, I’m not going to quit. I’m going to keep these rates high.” Pulte added: “And then on top of it, he doesn’t like our great president. So I think for all of those reasons, this guy is totally out of touch and keeping these rates way too high, and frankly something needs to be done.” Pulte then mentioned his objections to the Federal Reserve headquarters renovation as a reason for getting rid of Powell. [Fox Business, Making Money, 7/18/25]
    • On July 15, Bartiromo and Pulte made clear Powell was being targeted due to Trump’s anger. Bartiromo said: “President Trump says he would love it if the chairman, Jay Powell, resigned over him not cutting rates soon enough, and of course now this new story of him spending money on the buildings.” Pulte accused Powell of “gross negligence” for not cutting interest rates due to concern over inflation from Trump’s tariffs and also accused him of “deceit and fraud” over the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation. Pulte said of the possibility of Powell resigning: “I think he should consider it very soon, and frankly I think you have a situation, Maria, where this building is going to be the end of his career.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 7/15/25]
    • After Ingraham introduced Pulte as “the first official that I know of to call for Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, to step aside,” Pulte said “it’s time for Powell to go” because “the president doesn’t want him there.” Pulte said: “President Trump just won a landslide victory, and the president doesn't want him there. And he’s just so pompous, so arrogant. It's time for Powell to go. He’s too late with his resignation, OK, and he’s going to be too late resigning.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 7/14/25]
    • During a June 20 appearance, Pulte called for Powell to resign and seemingly suggested James was targeted because of her investigation of Trump. Pulte said: “It’s very ironic to me, Maria, that people went after the president, who has never done a dang thing wrong in his entire life in terms of the law, it’s totally crazy. This guy has been checked out eight ways to Sunday. And all of a sudden, many of these people may have been doing the same thing that they were accusing him of.” Bartiromo responded: “I don't think there's been more investigations on one person than President Trump.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 6/20/25]