Overview
- ProPublica reported that in late 1993 and early 1994 Trump signed two mortgages for adjacent Palm Beach houses seven weeks apart, each stating the property would be his principal residence while he lived in New York.
- Contemporaneous news accounts and an interview with his longtime real estate agent indicate he did not live in either house and that both were rented out as investments.
- A White House spokesperson said both loans came from the same lender and argued there was no fraud, and Trump hung up on a ProPublica reporter when asked about the mortgages.
- Mortgage-law experts told ProPublica that such cases are rarely prosecuted but said the two loans meet the low threshold for impropriety the administration has used against others.
- The findings echo residency-loan allegations the administration raised against figures including Fed governor Lisa Cook and New York Attorney General Letitia James, and USA TODAY noted new charges tied to Trump’s 1990s loans are unlikely due to timing.