Overview
- ProPublica published 1993 mortgage records in which Donald Trump attested that two neighboring Palm Beach houses would each be his principal residence, with the loans signed seven weeks apart.
- Contemporaneous news accounts and an interview with Trump’s longtime real estate agent indicate he never lived in either property and instead leased them as investments.
- Mortgage-law experts told ProPublica the facts exceed the low threshold the administration has cited as evidence of fraud, while noting that such cases are often legal and seldom prosecuted.
- A White House spokesperson said both mortgages came from the same lender and asserted there was no fraud, and Trump hung up on a ProPublica reporter who asked about the loans.
- The administration has pursued residency-based allegations against targets including Letitia James and Lisa Cook; a judge threw out the initial James indictment and a grand jury declined to reindict, while Cook’s legal fight continues.