Justice Department is investigating handling of Adam Schiff mortgage fraud probe led by Ed Martin and Bill Pulte
The Justice Department is investigating possible issues with the mortgage fraud investigation into California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff that is run by two Trump administration political appointees, Ed Martin and Bill Pulte.
One witness, a Republican from California named Christine Bish, spoke to a federal grand jury in Maryland on Thursday morning. Investigators had sought information about the possibility that there was a person who claimed to be working for Pulte or Martin, but was not properly deputized, according to two sources familiar with the developing situation.
Bish previously said publicly she believed she had information to share about Schiff related to his mortgages.
Bish told CNN Thursday that she went before the grand jury with the understanding that she was providing information in a federal investigation into Schiff, but that prosecutors “seemed more concerned” about looking into whether “there was conspiracy or collusion between me and Pulte or me and Ed Martin.”
She said she’s never spoken to the two men outside of an occasional light message on social media, but that her independent probe into Schiff was submitted to Pulte’s office earlier this year and later referred to the Justice Department, where it was handed off to Martin.
Schiff is one of President Donald Trump’s longtime political foes, with Trump in September pushing in a Truth social post for Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute him. And Martin has championed investigations the President wants.
“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action,” Trump wrote in the post. “Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.”
Yet prosecutors from the Maryland US Attorney’s Office have been hesitant to proceed with charges against Schiff, CNN previously reported.
“If they’re trying to tie me into some kind of clandestine conspiracy, it’s not there, and the best way to protect myself is to be open and honest and public,” Bish said Thursday, adding later: “Something’s not adding up. And I haven’t gotten to the bottom of it yet, but I will.”
Video shows DOJ prosecutor Ed Martin posing for photos outside of AG Letitia James’ house
Video shows DOJ prosecutor Ed Martin posing for photos outside of AG Letitia James’ house
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Martin didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
Bish made an appearance on Newsmax in August where she said she had a whistleblower ready to support her on her claim that Schiff committed mortgage fraud.
“This person has come forward, has put it in writing to me that Adam Schiff was very aware that he was committing mortgage fraud,” Bish said on Newsmax. (Schiff has denied any wrongdoing, has not been charged with any crime, and his attorney declined to comment for this story Thursday.)
But the interview questions Bish was asked in the grand jury on Thursday went beyond any probe into Schiff, she told CNN.
“They assured me, when they interviewed me, that the focus of the investigation was Adam Schiff. And I kept pulling the testimony back to Schiff, but it seemed like they were looking for more — stuff that doesn’t exist,” she said at the courthouse on Thursday.
“You know – had I ever talked to Director Pulte? Had I ever talked to Ed Martin? Did I have any communication with them? And that’s where the conversation kept going back,” she added. “So I don’t know if they’re on a fishing exposition expedition or you know what’s going on.”
Martin holds four titles at the Justice Department: US Pardon Attorney, Special Attorney for Mortgage Fraud, Associate Deputy Attorney General, and director of the Weaponization Working Group. Pulte is the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
The inquiry, according to the additional sources, include the office of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche at Justice Department headquarters looking into the work of people who may have been dispatched or held themselves out to witnesses improperly around the mortgage fraud investigation.
As part of the probe, federal prosecutors are also reviewing actions in the investigation of New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to people briefed on the matter.
James is under indictment by the US attorney’s office in Alexandria, Virginia, for allegedly making false statements to a bank to obtain a mortgage. But the origins of case against her also relied, at least in part, on a criminal referral from Pulte. James has pleaded not guilty and is set to go to trial in January.
Pulte’s role in the spate of criminal referrals has been under scrutiny because they have targeted prominent Democrats who have drawn the ire of Trump, and because he has made the referrals directly and not through the traditional means, his agency’s investigative agents whose jurisdiction includes mortgage fraud.
It is not yet clear the subjects of the investigation, or what criminal theories may be looked at by investigators. It is against the law, generally, to impersonate a federal official.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
