Justice Department is examining handling of mortgage fraud investigation into Sen. Adam Schiff

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 mortgages held by Schiff, who has homes in California and Maryland. 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 push by Pulte and Martin to investigate Trump political foes for mortgage fraud.

Their effort has been plagued by missteps, including overhyped allegations that were easily refuted, as well as the disclosure that ethics officials at the agency Pulte leads were investigating whether he and his allies had improperly accessed mortgage data for those he has accused of 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 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. Last week, Pulte also referred Rep Eric. Swalwell, a California Democrat, to the Justice Department for investigation.

All four deny the allegations.

The investigation into Schiff is being conducted by prosecutors in Maryland, though the status of the inquiry is unclear. The investigation into James resulted in criminal charges last month in Virginia. She has pleaded not guilty and, in a filing this week, her lawyers decried what they said was “outrageous” government conduct that resulted in her indictment.

Bish told the AP that she previously submitted her work on Schiff to congressional ethics officials, but that nothing came of it. After Pulte put out a call for mortgage fraud tips, she resubmitted her research to the agency he leads as well as the FBI. Pulte called her and left a voicemail asking for more information, she said, but Bish said she has never had a conversation with him.

The subpoena Bish received seeks any communications she may have had with Pulte or any persons claiming to be working at his “behest,” including anyone claiming to be Pulte’s chief of staff. It also seeks information about communications with anyone “claiming to be working for or at the direction of” the Justice Department or “anyone claiming to be acting at the direction or request of” Martin.

Martin, who also serves as director of the Justice Department’s “Weaponization Working Group,” was tapped to help with the mortgage fraud investigations after his nomination to become Washington D.C.’s top federal prosecutor was pulled over bipartisan concerns about his modest legal experience, divisive politics and support for Jan. 6 rioters.

Since his arrival in Trump’s Washington, Pulte has drawn a spotlight to the normally staid Federal Housing Finance Agency he oversees. The 37-year-old scion of a home construction fortune has sought to ingratiate himself with Trump by publicly attacking some of the president’s longtime political antagonists.

But in recent weeks, he's had a series of high-profile blunders.

Earlier this month, he persuaded Trump about the allure of a 50-year mortgage as a way to increase home buying and building — a proposal that was widely criticized because it would drastically increase the overall price of a loan.

Pulte, who appointed himself chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has also rattle the housing industry by purging ethics officials and top leaders of the two government-sponsored lending giants, which hold trillions of dollars in assets.

Some of those who have been fired were investigating whether Pulte and his allies used non-public mortgage data as the basis for his criminal referrals against Cook and others. Other top executives at Fannie Mae were forced out last month after they voiced alarm that a Pulte confidant, acting on his behalf, had shared confidential pricing data with Freddie Mac, a top competitor.

In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi this week, Abbe Lowell, an attorney for James and Cook, suggested Pulte was perhaps the one who should be investigated.

“These improprieties by Director Pulte may be grounds for your agency or others in the government to review his conduct,” Lowell wrote. “I am pointing them out because they undercut his criminal referrals."