Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., has dropped his lawsuit against Bill Pulte which accused the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency of weaponizing mortgage fraud investigations to target critics of President Donald Trump.
Swalwell — a California gubernatorial candidate — filed the lawsuit in November, arguing that Pulte unlawfully accessed and disclosed his private mortgage records in violation of federal privacy law and the First Amendment’s “bedrock prohibition on viewpoint-based retaliation.”
“Director Pulte has combed through private records of political opponents. To silence them,” Swalwell posted in a statement at the time on X.
Swalwell, a seven-term congressman and House impeachment manager during Trump’s second impeachment, has long been one of the most vocal critics of the president.
Pulte had referred Swalwell to the Department of Justice over claims that the congressman may have made false or misleading statements in loan documents for a Washington home. Swalwell called the claims “patently false.”
