DOJ, FBI probing top Trump administration officials over investigations of president’s adversaries: Sources

The Division of Justice is probing the conduct of at the very least two prime Trump administration officers for allegedly interfering with and doubtlessly jeopardizing the continued prison investigations of the president’s political adversaries, sources aware of the matter informed ABC Information.

Sources mentioned the DOJ and FBI are scrutinizing whether or not U.S. Pardon Legal professional Ed Martin and Federal Housing Finance Company Director Invoice Pulte enlisted people exterior the Division of Justice to probe allegations of mortgage fraud amid ongoing investigations of Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James.

No less than one witness within the Schiff investigation has acquired a grand jury subpoena handy over any correspondence with Martin’s associates in addition to with Pulte himself, sources informed ABC Information.

In what could be a rare breach of DOJ protocol, Martin can be believed to have shared delicate grand jury details about the James case with at the very least one unauthorized particular person in addition to labored with one other particular person from exterior the federal authorities to look at potential proof within the Schiff and James probes, sources aware of the matter mentioned.

No less than one witness within the Schiff investigation has acquired a grand jury subpoena handy over any correspondence with Martin’s associates in addition to with Pulte himself, sources informed ABC Information.

Senior Trump administration officers have expressed issues that the potential misconduct might have compromised the investigations and jeopardized the viability of the instances in the event that they proceed to trial.

Whereas Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi tapped Martin as a “particular lawyer” for mortgage fraud, officers say the alleged rogue conduct — working exterior of the 2 U.S. attorneys’ workplaces investigating the instances and usurping the FBI brokers assigned to the instances — violates DOJ tips and necessitates a full assessment of Martin’s conduct to find out what would should be disclosed to protection attorneys.

FBI brokers engaged on the Schiff case found the potential drawback after they sought to interview Christine Bish, a California politician and realtor who first publicized the allegations of mortgage fraud in opposition to Schiff. When FBI brokers first made contact together with her, Bish expressed confusion about why federal investigators sought to talk together with her once more, telling brokers that she had repeatedly spoken with a person she believed labored for the Division of Justice as Ed Martin’s lead investigator, sources mentioned.

Bish informed FBI brokers that Robert Bowes — who has publicly claimed to be a monetary fraud skilled with the Workplace of Personnel Administration assigned to work with the Division of Justice on mortgage fraud issues — reached out to her a month earlier by way of a direct message on X to request an interview, in accordance with sources.

With out the information of the FBI or Maryland prosecutors, Bowes spoke with Bish — who’s regarded as a central witness within the Schiff case — on a number of events throughout which she supplied info on the case, sources mentioned.

A person named Scott Strauss — a personal citizen who’s believed to be working with Martin — additionally reached out to Bish to request that she ship the paperwork about Schiff to a personal electronic mail deal with, which she declined to do as a result of the request appeared suspicious, the sources mentioned. 

Bish, sources mentioned, additionally informed investigators that Pulte had reached out to her straight in July to request the documentation associated to her grievance — simply days earlier than President Trump shared among the documentation on social media to say that Schiff “must be prosecuted.”  Pulte has performed a central position within the prison investigations of Trump’s opponents — issuing prison referrals in opposition to James, Schiff, and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook dinner — and lately dismissed Fannie Mae watchdogs who have been probing how he obtained the mortgage data.

An aide to Martin referred ABC Information to the Justice Division’s press workplace for remark.

A spokesperson for the Justice Division informed ABC Information, “Nameless sources in search of to spin or affect ongoing processes do a disservice to the general public and to the rule of regulation.”

Representatives for Pulte, Strauss, and Bish didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from ABC Information. An lawyer for Schiff didn’t reply to a request for remark. Attorneys for James declined to remark. 

‘She is aware of I am a lunatic’

The issues about Pulte and Martin’s conduct come because the Division of Justice has accelerated its efforts to research and prosecute President Trump’s perceived political foes. Following a public strain marketing campaign from the president, a Trump-installed U.S. lawyer indicted New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey over the objections of prosecutors who sources mentioned expressed severe issues with each instances, sources mentioned. Investigators in Maryland proceed to probe Schiff for alleged mortgage fraud.

All three have denied all allegations in opposition to them, and Comey and James pleaded not responsible after they have been charged. Protection attorneys have challenged the instances in opposition to James and Comey by arguing they might have by no means been introduced had their purchasers not been vocal critics of President Trump.

James, talking exterior the courthouse following her arraignment, mentioned the justice system beneath President Trump is being “used as a software of revenge” and is nothing however a “automobile of retribution.” 

Attorneys for Schiff have known as the investigation “politically motivated” and “unsupported by any proof.”

Prosecutors haven’t publicly commented on the Schiff matter, however sources say investigators have up to now struggled to determine a viable case, partially as a result of the mortgage paperwork in query are effectively previous the statute of limitations.

After a controversial tenure because the interim U.S. lawyer in D.C. when he didn’t safe sufficient Republican assist to be confirmed to the everlasting place, Martin has solely additional embraced his standing as a partisan warrior for President Trump.

“Legal professional Basic Bondi has been fearless in encouraging me. Like she is aware of I am a lunatic — like a wild man — and she or he [says] hold going, hold going,” Martin lately mentioned on a conservative radio present.

Holding 4 separate titles — pardon lawyer, particular lawyer for mortgage fraud, affiliate deputy lawyer basic, and director of the DOJ’s ‘Weaponization Working Group’ — Martin has usually steered in interviews that he has the total backing of the DOJ management, although his self-described “title and disgrace” strategy has resulted in a number of cases of him being privately rebuked by management or compelled to retract his actions.

Earlier this yr, Martin posed for a photoshoot with the New York Publish exterior the Brooklyn house of Letitia James. Days earlier, he despatched a letter to James’ lawyer to suggest she resign from workplace amid his investigation for “the nice of the state and nation.” His photoshoot and social media publish later earned Martin a rebuke from Legal professional Basic Bondi, as beforehand reported by ABC Information.  

In September, Martin despatched a letter to a lawyer for an FBI agent who was among the many first to answer the varsity capturing at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty to recommend he was beneath prison investigation. No such investigation came about, and Martin was ordered to rescind the letter.

“If they are often charged, we’ll cost them,” Martin mentioned earlier than stepping down because the interim U.S. lawyer in D.C. “But when they can not be charged, we are going to title them. And we are going to title them, and in a tradition that respects disgrace, they need to be folks which might be ashamed.”

‘I began digging’

Whereas Martin was named the particular lawyer for mortgage fraud, prosecutors with the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in Maryland have been main the investigation into whether or not Schiff dedicated mortgage fraud associated to the acquisition of his house in Maryland.

The investigation itself started with a grievance from Bish — a Republican who’s working to signify California’s Sixth District in Congress — who alleged that Schiff falsely listed his Maryland house as his “major residence” on mortgage paperwork, regardless of declaring a apartment in California as his major residence.

“I began digging and pulled all of their mortgage paperwork,” Bish mentioned in an interview final yr with Mike Huckabee. “We begin trying and seeing all of the issues that Adam Schiff has been doing, I needed to choose the monster, and clearly that’s Adam Schiff.”

Over the past two months, prosecutors have sought to corroborate Bish’s allegations by reviewing public data, issuing dozens of subpoenas, and scheduling interviews with key witnesses, together with Bish herself.

Pulte first contacted her with a direct message on X in July to request the grievance she had beforehand filed, sources mentioned. 

On the identical day that Pulte allegedly reached out to Bish, President Trump took to his social media platform to say that Schiff “must be delivered to justice” primarily based on the allegations first made in Bish’s grievance.

Simply days after Pulte allegedly obtained the supporting documentation from Bish, Trump posted to social media a screenshot of the identical supplies — together with Bish’s personal highlighting.

Practically two months after Pulte’s alleged outreach, Bowes — a former banker who now works for the Workplace of Personnel Administration — contacted her over social media to request an interview. Bish spoke to Bowes on a number of events concerning the Schiff investigation, sources mentioned. Bish mentioned that she believed Bowes labored for the Division of Justice as a lead investigator for Martin, in accordance with sources. 

Bowes beforehand labored for the Division of Housing and City Growth in the course of the first Trump administration and was nominated to be the Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee. A former banker with no authorized or prosecutorial expertise, Bowes confronted criticism following a Wall Road Journal article that reported he disclosed buying and selling shares and choices totaling $671,000 and $3.2 million throughout his time in authorities service, and his nomination by no means got here up for a vote within the Senate. Bowes informed the Wall Road Journal that he made a mistake and that one yr’s submitting was too low to require disclosure. 

Strauss is a former federal prosecutor who Martin, earlier this yr, unsuccessfully tried to rent to work on the Division of Justice. He spent two years working for the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of Florida earlier than being reassigned out of the workplace for trying to pursue allegations of a voting fraud conspiracy associated to the 2020 election. As of November, Strauss was not employed by the federal authorities.

The FBI has tried to contact each Bowes and Strauss to grasp the scope of their conduct, and prosecutors despatched Bish a grand jury subpoena earlier this month to request all her communications with Bowes, Strauss, Pulte, and anybody who represented they have been appearing on the path of Pulte or Martin, in accordance with sources.

‘Fighters for justice and goodness’

Since he didn’t safe sufficient assist to be confirmed because the chief federal prosecutor in D.C., sources say that Martin has sought a foothold throughout the Division of Justice to guide the instances in opposition to adversaries of the president, together with James, Schiff and Cook dinner.

However the investigations of James and Schiff have been one step faraway from Martin, who has just about no expertise as a prosecutor, and are as an alternative led by federal prosecutors in Virginia and Maryland.

Earlier this summer season, Martin sought to increase his position by recruiting skilled prosecutors from Virginia and New York to affix his “Particular Legal professional Fraud Unit.” Martin despatched DOJ officers an electronic mail titled “Assist Wished” to encourage prosecutors to affix him to be “fighters for justice and goodness and the American manner,” in accordance with supplies reviewed by ABC Information.

“In a particular manner, the SAFU is known as to carry unhealthy actors accountable,” Martin mentioned in his electronic mail. “In any case, as New York, Legal professional Basic Leticia [sic] James mentioned, ‘As a result of regardless of how massive, wealthy, or highly effective you suppose you’re, nobody is above the regulation.'”

However Strauss has not labored for the federal authorities since 2020 and lacks DOJ authorization to research a personal particular person, in accordance with sources.

And Bowes — though he works for the Trump administration — lacks the authority to conduct the investigations or assessment delicate investigative supplies. Bowes is believed to have accessed and reviewed grand jury info associated to the James case, sources informed ABC Information.  

Bowes has often taken to social media to touch upon ongoing issues, together with the Schiff case, writing in social media posts this summer season that Schiff “violated” Fannie Mae tips and sharing a information report that Trump blasted “‘Rip-off Artist’ Adam Schiff over Potential Mortgage Fraud.” In 2023, Bowes additionally alleged that Schiff was a “confirmed liar” and steered that Schiff engaged in witness tampering. DOJ tips prohibit officers from posting about ongoing investigations on social media.

After James pleaded not responsible to the indictment in her case final month, Bowes spoke with Lindell TV to opine on the case in opposition to James — in direct violation of DOJ tips — whereas representing himself as an OPM official assigned to the DOJ who labored straight on the James case.

Throughout the interview, Bowes commented concerning the proof gathered within the James case and appeared to reference grand jury materials.

“She felt very assured [that] she may bend the principles, break the principles, and now it seems that she’s dedicated some felonies,” Bowes mentioned.

Bowes additionally commented about what he believes could be an applicable sentence and the way James would fare in jail. 

“The larger they’re, the more durable they fall,” Bowes mentioned. “Nobody is above the regulation.”