Trump’s Past Mortgages Mirror Those Now Labeled As ‘fraud’

For months, the Trump administration has cast mortgage filings by several of the president’s political adversaries as potential crimes, accusing them of fraud for claiming more than one primary residence.

But records show Trump made the same declarations decades earlier.

A report published this week by ProPublica indicates that in late 1993 and early 1994, Trump — then a New York resident — signed two mortgages for neighboring homes in Palm Beach, Florida, each time affirming that the property would serve as his principal residence.

Records and recent interviews indicate he never lived in either house.

Instead, both homes, situated just north of Mar-a-Lago, were reportedly treated as rental investments, mirroring the conduct his administration now claims is fraudulent.

“They were rentals from the beginning,” Shirley Wyner, who with her late husband served as Trump’s local real estate team and later handled leasing for the homes, told ProPublica. “President Trump never lived there.”

Experts weigh in

At the time of the purchases, the Miami Herald quoted Trump’s agent as saying he had “hired an expensive New York design firm” to “dress them up to the nines and lease them out annually.”

Mortgage law specialists who reviewed the documents for ProPublica said that claiming two primary residences can be legal and is seldom prosecuted.

But they noted that Trump’s filings exceed the standard his own administration has used to accuse political opponents.

“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 (DOJ),” said Kathleen Engel, a Suffolk University law professor. “Trump has deemed that this type of misrepresentation is sufficient to preclude someone from serving the country.”

Experts told ProPublica that borrowers can hold multiple owner-occupied mortgages in limited circumstances — such as job relocations or lender-approved exceptions — but intent is central to proving fraud.

The Trump administration has argued that merely having more than one primary residence mortgage is suspicious.

“If somebody is claiming two primary residences, that is not appropriate, and we will refer it for criminal investigation,” Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has previously stated.

White House response

When ProPublica asked Trump about his Florida loans, he reportedly hung up.

“President Trump’s two mortgages you are referencing are from the same lender,” a White House spokesperson later told the outlet. “There was no defraudation. It is illogical to believe that the same lender would agree to defraud itself.”

The spokesperson added that “this is yet another desperate attempt by the Left wing media to disparage President Trump with false allegations,” and that “President Trump has never, or will ever, break the law.”

The mortgages, issued by Merrill Lynch for $525,000 and $1.2 million, required Trump to occupy each home as his principal residence within 60 days and to remain for at least one year unless the lender gave approval.

Public records, election filings and media accounts from the period list Trump Tower in Manhattan as his home, and a 1994 Vanity Fair profile depicted him shuttling between New York and Mar-a-Lago — not the two satellite houses. Both properties appeared in rental listings throughout the 1990s, ProPublica added.

Any potential violations are long past the statute of limitations, and the loans have been paid off.

A Bank of America spokesperson, whose company now owns Merrill Lynch, told ProPublica it was “highly unlikely” the bank still holds original documents.

The circumstances echo those at the center of the DOJ’s case against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was indicted in October for misrepresenting a Virginia home as a second residence before renting it out.

The indictment said, “This misrepresentation allowed James to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties.”

The case was dismissed on procedural grounds, although prosecutors have sought to refile.

Trump has also moved to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, citing her two primary-residence mortgages.

“It is inconceivable that you were not aware of your first commitment when making the second,” the president wrote in a letter accusing Cook of “gross negligence.”

Other Democrats, including Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, have been accused of similar conduct.

Pulte has insisted his investigations are not politically targeted, but no such referrals involving Republicans have been made public.

“If it’s a Republican who’s committing mortgage fraud, we’re going to look at it,” he said.