WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is examining the handling of the mortgage fraud investigation into Sen. Adam Schiff, including the potential involvement of people who claimed to be acting at the behest or direction of two Trump administration officials who have been pushing the probe of the California Democrat, according to a document reviewed by The Associated Press.
Federal authorities involved in the Schiff investigation in Maryland interviewed a Republican congressional candidate on Thursday who has promoted the mortgage fraud allegations against the lawmaker and quizzed her about any communications she may have had with Justice Department official Ed Martin and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte. The interview came after the woman received a subpoena seeking information about communications she may have had with people claiming to be working at the direction of Pulte and Martin.
Christine Bish, a real estate agent who is running for a congressional seat in California, told the AP that she was prepared to speak to investigators about her own yearslong effort to draw attention to Schiff’s mortgages. But authorities instead were focused on potential interactions she has had with Pulte and Martin, Bish said.
“I expected to be asked questions, a lot of questions, about, ’How did you come about investigating Adam Schiff and what were your findings?” Bish said. “What they wanted to know was if I was in communication with Ed Martin or Director Pulte — and I was not.”
Bish said she kept trying to return to the Schiff allegations, but that the officials “are trying to, in my opinion, investigate the investigators.”
The revelation that authorities are turning their attention to the handling of the Schiff investigation is likely to bring fresh scrutiny to the already criticized efforts by Pulte and Martin to investigate Trump political foes for mortgage fraud.
The revelation that authorities are turning their attention to the handling of the Schiff investigation is likely to bring fresh scrutiny to the already criticized efforts by Pulte and Martin to investigate Trump political foes for mortgage fraud.
In recent months, Bish had been contacted by multiple times by Robert Bowes, who worked in the first Trump administration and purported to work for Pulte, according to a person familiar with the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to concern about retribution.
Bowes, who is listed on the subpoena, asked Bish to investigate the mortgages of multiple people, the person said. On one occasion, Bowes asked Bish to serve as a source to a national news outlet he claimed was working on a negative story about mortgages held by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the person said.
Bowes did not respond to a request for comment Thursday
Pulte did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. A message seeking comment was also left with a spokesperson for Martin. The Justice Department declined to comment.
In August, the department named Martin as a special prosecutor to help conduct investigations into Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Prosecutors have separately issued subpoenas as part of a mortgage fraud investigation into Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor whom Trump has sought to fire.
Lawyers for all three have denied the allegations.