President Donald Trump on Tuesday told reporters that Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) engaged in mortgage fraud and suggested authorities have very strong evidence he did so.
According to a Fannie Mae memo reported by the Washington Post, Schiff “engaged in a sustained pattern of possible occupancy misrepresentation on 5 Fannie Mae loans,” and the Burbank home listed as a primary residence was a one-bedroom apartment, raising questions as Schiff has a family of four.
One reporter asked Trump during his Oval Office meeting with Philippine President Bongbong Marcos, “How does a family of four live in a one-bedroom apartment?”
“It looks like Adam Schiff really did a bad thing. They have them. Now let’s see what happens,” Trump said:
It’s not up to me…I stay out of it purposely. But it’s mortgage loan fraud. It’s a big deal. He defrauded banks and insurance companies in the federal government.
But it’s very simple. It’s mortgage loan fraud. And you’re right. That’s a lot of people to live in a one-bedroom apartment, right, but he put it down. But he has a lot of other things far worse than that.
Trump added, “They have him 100 percent on mortgage fraud.”
“Now, if it was anybody else in this room… you’d have a problem. I’d have a problem,” Trump concluded.
As the Washington Post reported last week, the case has been referred to the Department of Justice.
On Monday, Trump said Schiff “should pay the price of prison for a real crime.”
In a five-minute-long video last week, Schiff, who headed up the first House impeachment efforts against Trump in the lower chamber, responded to Trump’s initial claims he may have engaged in mortgage fraud, saying Trump’s accusations against him, including accusations of treason, are “baseless.”
