Dear Reader,
President Donald Trump’s administration has vowed to go after anyone who received a lower mortgage rate by claiming more than one primary residence. Trump has used this concern as a justification to target political foes, including a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Lisa Cook, and New York Attorney General Letitia James. But our reporters started digging. We consulted with real estate experts, who said that claiming primary residences on different mortgages at the same time is often legal and rarely prosecuted. And, underscoring how common the practice is, ProPublica found that at least three of Trump’s Cabinet members call multiple homes their primary residences on mortgages.
This week, we revealed that Trump himself once did the very thing he called “deceitful and potentially criminal.”
In 1993, Trump signed a mortgage for a “Bermuda style” home in Palm Beach, Florida, pledging that it would be his principal residence. Just seven weeks later, he got another mortgage for a seven-bedroom, marble-floored neighboring property, attesting that it too would be his principal residence.
In reality, Trump, then a New Yorker, does not appear to have ever lived in either home, let alone used them as a principal residence. Instead, the two houses, which are next to his historic Mar-a-Lago estate, were used as investment properties and rented out, according to contemporaneous news accounts and an interview with his longtime real estate agent.
Mortgage law experts who reviewed the records for ProPublica were struck by the irony of Trump’s dual mortgages. They said claiming primary residences on different mortgages at the same time, as Trump did, is often legal and rarely prosecuted. But Trump’s two loans, they said, exceed the low bar the Trump administration itself has set for mortgage fraud.
“Given Trump’s position on situations like this, he’s going to either need to fire himself or refer himself to the Department of Justice,” said Kathleen Engel, a Suffolk University law professor and leading expert on mortgage finance. “Trump has deemed that this type of misrepresentation is sufficient to preclude someone from serving the country.”
Trump hung up on a ProPublica reporter after being asked whether his Florida mortgages were similar to those of others he had accused of fraud. A White House spokesperson told ProPublica: “President Trump’s two mortgages you are referencing are from the same lender. There was no defraudation. It is illogical to believe that the same lender would agree to defraud itself.” The spokesperson added, “President Trump has never, or will ever, break the law.” All three of Trump’s Cabinet members who call multiple homes their primary residences on mortgages also denied wrongdoing.
A functioning democracy relies on journalism that can examine the actions of people in power and bring the full truth to light. Because ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom — with no owners, shareholders or government funding — our only allegiance is to the public. Our independence, and our ability to pursue stories like this, is powered by readers like you. Make a donation today, and help us continue our rigorous, fact-driven reporting that can stand up to any powerful figure or institution. Your donation ensures that the truth gets out, no matter who it challenges.
Thanks so much,
Megan Martenyi
Proud ProPublican
