Political activists claiming to live in glass houses located outside their districts or committing transparent mortgage fraud shouldn’t dare to throw stones at the current duly elected White House resident.
Take allegations made against former House Intelligence Committee Chairman, current Calif. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James, for example, both prominent Trump opponents.
The Justice Department headed by Bondi has appointed Ed Martin, a former interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., as special attorney to investigate both allegations.
Reportedly, a Maryland grand jury will be seated in a criminal referral of fraud mortgage allegations against Schiff, and another seated in the Eastern District of Virginia will address allegations that James made false statements on mortgage loan applications.
Schiff and James both deny wrongdoing and are countercharging the Trump administration with weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) against them.
Preet Bharara, who is representing Schiff, says that the allegations against the senator "are transparently false, stale, and long debunked."
Schiff previously blasted Trump’s claims in a July video statement that, "This is the kind of stuff you see tinpot dictators do. It is designed to intimidate his political opponents and somehow try to silence them."
It can be noted here that there is no affection between Bharara, who served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York before being fired by Trump during his first term in office, and Martin, who served as Trump’s interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., earlier this year before moving to DOJ as director of a "weaponization working group."
The DOJ is accusing the junior senator from California of claiming two homes as primary residences for more than a decade — to score lower mortgage rates (only 3%) and property taxes.
Newly released annual financial documents show that even after Schiff finally designated his Potomac, Maryland property as a second home in 2020 — after 16 years —he got the exact rock-bottom mortgage rate as his California residence when he refinanced both that year, saving him somewhere between $30,000 to $50,000 over that period.
Schiff also allegedly benefited from a homeowner's tax exemption by declaring his much smaller 650-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo in Burbank, California as a primary home, resulting in a $7,000 reduction in property taxes.
He reportedly failed to disclose his mortgages on annual financial disclosures until 2011, even though he bought the Potomac property in 2003 and the California condo in 2009.
Records also show that Schiff’s bank assets soared from $578,000 — $1.35 million in 2002, from $1.02 million from $2.37 million in 2023, and from $1.18 million and $2.63 million in 2024.
Schiff, who is now accused of wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and making false statements to financial institutions, has repeatedly said "no one’s above the law."
Donald Trump apparently finds that assertion by the former-House manager who led the first impeachment trial, repeatedly promoting claims that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia, especially ironic.
Fox News Digital reports that a whistleblower (a Democrat) who served on the U.S. House investigation Committee for more than 10 years, made the newly released claims to the FBI in 2017 that Schiff had illegally approved leaking classified information to discredit the president during the Russiagate probe.
Schiff claims the allegations are "absolutely and categorically false," yet in any case, is was among lawmakers who served on the committee who were granted preemptive pardons by President Biden or his autopen.
Leticia ("Tish") James, also being investigated for mortgage fraud, had vowed in her 2018 campaign for New York attorney general to pursue Trump as an "illegitimate president" and an "embarrassment."
Following up on her agenda, James successfully sued Trump and his company over what her office said were fraudulent misrepresentations of his wealth and financial statements whereby a judge awarded a penalty of over $300 million in the case that has since swelled to over $500 million with interest.
A New York Appeals Court then tossed out that judgment.
James has since been referred by William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to U.S. A.G. Pam Bondi for federal criminal prosecution for alleged mortgage fraud related to a Virginia home and a New York property.
A letter from Pulte to Bondi obtained by CBS News alleges that James "has, in multiple instances, falsified bank documents and property records to acquire government backed assistance and loans and more favorable loan terms," adding that it could lead to charges such as wire fraud, mail fraud and bank fraud, along with making a false statement to a financial institution.
More specifically, Pulte alleges James and her father signed mortgage documents in 1983 stating they were husband and wife, bought a five-family property in Brooklyn in 2001 with a loan at low interest available only for homes with four units or less, and in 2023 as sitting New York attorney general listed a Norfolk, Virginia property purchase and mortgage as her primary home, rather than residency in the state of New York as required.
So, might present inquiries regarding Adam Schiff and Latisha James have some connection to their lawfare assaults on President Trump?
Rather than expect him to behave like a peaceful incarnation of Mahatma Gandi, perhaps think of him more like Smokey the Bear attempting to stop Democrats from burning down the country.
And even like friendly bears, it's probably a good idea not to poke him too hard.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.
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