The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. December 9, 2025 ProPublica: Trump's Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud --------------------------------------------------------------------- President Trump has accused his political enemies, including Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, of mortgage fraud for claiming more than one primary residence on her loans. Now a Pro Publica investigation finds that President Trump did the same thing in the 1990s, when he took out two Florida mortgages and claimed that each home would be his main residence. According to Pro Publica, President Trump never lived in the two Florida houses and instead used them as rental properties. Kathleen Engel, a Suffolk University law professor and leading expert on mortgage finance, told Pro Publica, "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. Trump has deemed that this type of misrepresentation is sufficient to preclude someone from serving the country." .