The Trump administration has aggressively gone after political rivals over alleged mortgage games. Newly unearthed paperwork, however, suggests he once played a similar game himself. ProPublica reports that Trump signed two mortgages in Palm Beach in late 1993 and early 1994, each time listing the property as his main home. The houses sit just north of Mar-a-Lago and were financed by Merrill Lynch. Standard language in the documents required Trump to move in within 60 days and live there for at least a year, unless special arrangements were made with the lender.
Yet news coverage, rental listings, and an interview with the Trump family's longtime broker indicate the homes were treated as rentals from the get-go, and that Trump continued to live in New York. "They were rentals from the beginning," says Shirley Wyner, the deceased agent's wife and business partner. "President Trump never lived there." Mortgage law specialists tell ProPublica that holding more than one "primary residence" loan isn't automatically illegal and is rarely prosecuted, especially decades later. But they said Trump's situation crosses the threshold his own administration has set in accusing others of fraud for similar or lesser conduct.
Suffolk University law professor Kathleen Engel quipped that under Trump's standard, "he's going to either need to fire himself or refer himself to the Department of Justice." The loans have long since been paid off and are well beyond the statute of limitations. The White House dismissed the report, noting both loans came from the same bank and calling it "illogical to believe that the same lender would agree to defraud itself." A spokesperson labeled the story a partisan attack and said Trump "has never, or will ever, break the law." Bank of America, which now owns Merrill Lynch, declined to discuss the specific loans.
New York Attorney General Letitia James was charged—before the case was thrown out on procedural grounds—over allegedly treating a declared "second home" as a rental. Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, whom Trump has tried to oust, was accused of taking out two primary-residence mortgages weeks apart; Trump called that potentially criminal and evidence of "gross negligence." Similar allegations have been leveled at other Democrats, while no public referrals against Republicans have emerged from the administration's mortgage crackdown. ProPublica, which also reviewed the mortgages of some of Trump's Cabinet members in September, notes that Trump hung up on one of its reporters when asked for comment.
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