What Next - The Man Behind Trump’s Firing of Lisa Cook
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2025
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte has led investigations into Senator Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Leititia James, and the Federal Reserve’s Lisa Cook for mortgage fraud.
With a background a lot like Trump’s—and a little like Mr. Beast’s—who is Pulte? And what kind of damage could a vengeful FHFA director do?
Guest: Rachel Siegel, reporter covering the economics of real estate and housing for the Washington Post.
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
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Transcript
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| 0:59.1 | October 10. |
| 1:06.5 | Let's play a game. I'm going to ask you to name one of President Trump's most flashy attack dogs. |
| 1:13.3 | I'm guessing you're thinking about Laura Lumer, maybe Marjorie Taylor Green. |
| 1:18.7 | But what if I told you? There was someone else, just as important. And he is the leader of a little-known agency, one that was just created back in 2008, the |
| 1:30.1 | Federal Housing Finance Agency. |
| 1:32.7 | It's a relatively small agency. |
| 1:35.3 | It's not even part of the cabinet, but it has a lot of power in that it oversees the U.S. |
| 1:41.1 | mortgage market. |
| 1:45.1 | Rachel Siegel covers the economics of housing for the Washington Post. |
| 1:49.6 | So she's one of the few people who is familiar with the FHFA, as it's called. |
| 1:55.3 | How common is it for anyone other than you to know the name of the person heading up the federal housing finance agency. |
| 2:02.2 | Probably not very common, or at least not that they could fill in what FHFA stands for. |
| 2:07.2 | So who is the head of the federal housing finance agency? |
... |
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