The Stone Zone dissects rural healthcare’s collapse amid Congress’s neglect, then pivots to the GOP’s $1.5T tax bill—passed 2015-2014 with zero Democratic votes—funding border security and missile shields while Democrats push open borders and transgender sports policies. Roger Stone exposes Biden’s alleged "Auto Pen scandal," where 1,500 pardons, including for Adam Schiff, were signed without oversight by figures like Ron Klain and Jill Biden, now under Trump’s DOJ task force scrutiny. Meanwhile, Trump’s Oval Office showdown with South Africa’s Ramaphosa over Afrikaner genocide claims—backed by Elon Musk—contrasts with RFK Jr.’s report linking 40% of childhood diseases to diet, chemicals, and stress under Trump’s "Make America Healthy Again" push. FHFA’s William Pulte reveals $16K missing employees at Fannie/Freddie ($7.8T mortgage market), fraud probes on Letitia James (referred to DOJ), and Biden-era inflation driving up housing costs—now stabilizing under Trump’s policies, with plans to privatize the agencies. [Automatically generated summary]
Rural Americans deserve access to the best our nation has to offer, especially when it comes to health care.
Across every state and every community, America's rural hospitals are the first line of defense, protecting our families, neighbors, and loved ones.
No matter where you live, hospital care doesn't clock out.
They're there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Each year, America's over 5,000 hospitals care for millions of patients, providing 24-7 emergency care, delivering babies, cancer treatments, and other life-saving care that patients rely on.
Behind every one of those patients are doctors, nurses, and caregivers working tirelessly to keep people healthy and safe.
Hospitals are our community's lifelines.
They employ our neighbors and keep our families health.
But now, some in Congress are threatening access to care.
Tell Congress, protect patient care to keep America strong.
Don't cut rural health care.
The Stone Zone on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
This is The Stone Zone with Roger Stone.
People love him and respect him.
Roger Stone.
Now, get in the zone.
It's the Stone Zone.
Here's Roger Stone.
Welcome.
You are entering the Stone Zone, and we've got one big, beautiful show for you.
Today is indeed a historic day as the U.S. House of Representatives has passed the greatest single tax reduction bill in its history.
The so-called big, beautiful bill, as President Donald Trump has called it.
As historic as the Reagan tax cuts, as historic as the Kennedy tax cuts in the 1960s, and in the tradition of the Trump tax cuts, which this bill continues, or I should say renews as of January, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill 2015 to 2014 without a single vote from a Democrat.
In other words, the Democrats in the House voted against the greatest single tax cut on the working people of America in our history.
The big, beautiful bill passed late last night.
The president celebrated the bill's passage on true social writing.
The one big, beautiful bill has passed the House of Representatives.
This is arguably the most significant piece of legislation that will ever be signed in the history of our country.
The bill includes massive tax cuts across the board.
The idea that the tax cuts are just for the wealthy is propaganda.
It's a lie.
But no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, tax deductions when you purchase an American-made automobile or truck, along with strong border measure increased funding, pay raises for our ICE and border patrol agents, funding for the Golden Dome.
That's the strategic defense initiative in which, like Israel, America will now be protected from incoming ICBM missiles.
This is a great idea.
It goes back to the days of Ronald Reagan.
The liberals used to deride it as Star Wars, but we have seen it protect Israel and it can protect America.
By the way, the one for the Eastern Seaboard should be put at Fort Drum in upstate New York.
Congress has voted for that, but now the funding for it, but they're dragging their feet.
The bill passed by the House includes Trump saving accounts for newborn babies and much, much more.
I give credit to Speaker Mike Johnson and the House leadership for rounding up the votes.
Incredibly, Congressman Garberino of New York didn't show up.
He said he fell asleep.
Really?
That's disgraceful.
Falling asleep when there's a vote on the single most important legislation, perhaps, in American history.
So now, of course, all eyes are on the U.S. Senate.
We have to see what the Senate will do.
There is no time to waste.
The Democrats have lost control of their party.
They're aimlessly wandering around, showing no confidence, no grit, but above all, no agenda, no agenda to help the hard-pressed working middle-class taxpayers of America, nothing to help the family.
They literally have no agenda other than we hate Trump.
Not very attractive.
They've forgotten their landslide loss already in the presidential election.
They're warped in the past, hoping someday to revive open borders, I guess, so the world's criminals can continue to pour into our country.
So once again, men will be able to play in women's sports and transgender for everything.
The Democrats don't seem to realize that these things, like so many more like them, will never ever happen again.
The bill passed would not only extend the president's 2017 tax cuts as of January, but as I said, boost the child tax credit, offers an additional $4,000 deduction for seniors, and puts an end to the absurd, pointless, ineffective green tax initiatives.
Evidently, former President Barack Obama is extremely upset about the bill passing, saying on Twitter that Republicans in Congress are trying to push through a bill that would put millions at risk for losing their health care.
They want to cut federal funding for Medicaid.
That's what's called a lie, ladies and gentlemen.
The Democrats do this every two or four years.
In reality, it's the illegal immigrants in this country who will no longer be able to get the Medicaid benefits that they never were eligible to get in the first place.
Could that be what Barack Obama is talking about?
Joe Biden Auto Pen Scandal00:03:44
Meanwhile, Ed Martin, remember him, he was appointed by President Donald Trump to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, only to have his nomination derailed by one rhino senator, Tom Tillis from North Carolina, Tillis, who I now hope will face a vigorous challenge in the Republican primary for re-election in 2026.
But Ed Martin was immediately appointed by President Donald Trump to be a deputy attorney general and to head a task force on the weaponization of the Justice Department under Joe Biden.
The DOJ pardon attorney and deputy attorney general has now revealed that a senior Democrat whistleblower has come forward with shocking allegations regarding the Joe Biden Auto Pen scandal.
You're familiar with this.
This is where they used an autopen to sign pardons, not just for Joe Biden's political cronies like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi and Dr. Anthony Fauci and others, but also for hardened criminals, murderers, drug dealers, those involved in child sex trafficking, people who have shown no remorse, people who never even applied for pardons.
The Justice Department is reviewing now all of Biden's last minute's pardons because they were never done with a real presidential signature.
We know that President Biden personally signed the pardon for his son and his brother, but when it comes to the others, it appears that virtually all of them, more than 1,500 pardons, were signed with an autopen.
I've identified Neera Tandon and Steve Nelson, two key Biden aides of those who had control of the Autopen, not to mention Ron Klain, the former White House chief of staff.
But a whistleblower came to Ed Martin 10 days ago, very, very senior Democrat, and named the three people who had access, claiming that they were being paid, meaning it was a side gig.
They were making money off of it.
Now, we have not had a full investigation.
At this point, that is merely an allegation.
But the point, of course, is that we do need to get to the bottom of it for the sake of the American people and to protect the process.
And that is what Ed Martin has pledged to do.
Although Martin could not reveal the whistleblower's name, he said the senior Democrat whistleblower worked as a high-level advisor to Joe Biden's 2020 campaign.
Martin also said the Biden pardons are unprecedented, added that a couple of the people involved in the scandal have already lawyered up.
I just named names.
Perhaps others won't do so, but I just did.
What Martin did reveal is that the three gatekeepers who are allegedly selling access to the AutoPen included Ron Clain and Chairman Mao fanatic Anita Dunn, as well as Biden attorney Bob Bauer.
Those are in addition to Neera Tandon and Steve Nelson, two that I named based on my own sources.
Martin said that Biden Counsel Steve Roschetti and Jill Biden also were lead characters in this autopen scandal, and they too will have to be investigated.
Trump Confronts Ramaposa00:03:03
Yesterday, of course, you would have to be living under a rock if you didn't see President Donald Trump confronting South African President Cyril Ramaposa in the Oval Office on Wednesday, during which Trump confronted the South African leader about the violent persecution being faced by white residents of his country.
This comes as the U.S. has accepted Afrikaner refugees, 56 of them, while fielding questions from reporters.
One asked Trump, what does it take from you to be convinced that there's no white genocide in South Africa?
The president of South Africa then interrupted and said, well, if I can answer that for the president, it will take president listening to the voices of South Africans, some of whom are his good friends, like those who are here when we have talks between us.
I'm not going to be repeating what I've already said.
I would say there is no Afrikaner pharma genocide.
I can bet you these gentlemen would not be here, including my Minister of Agriculture, who would not be with me if that was the case.
The president immediately not only showed a video, but produced dozens of news stories covering the violent deaths and the seizing of lands of white farmers in South Africa.
It's interesting to me that through this entire time, Elon Musk, who of course comes from South Africa, today a U.S. citizen, glared at the president of South Africa because, well, I think Elon knew that the president of South Africa was lying.
Trump directed the lights be turned down and they showed that shocking video, which appeared to be a rally from the president's party, in which various speakers, singers, and dancers were calling for the murder of white South Africans.
The video clip played said that killing is part of the revolution.
They can take land when they feel like it without compensation, and they were chanting kill the boar, which is what white South Africans are called.
Additional footage played, with Trump explaining that these were the burial sites of over 1,000 white farmers in South Africa.
You can see the crosses.
If those were not grave sites, what were they?
It was a terrible sight, as the president said.
I've never seen anything like it.
Have they told you what that is, Mr. President?
I'd like to know what that is because the President of South Africa claims he had never seen that.
The president, as I say, stacked through a leaf through a stack of printed articles saying, these are the articles over the last couple of days, deaths of people.
Death, death, death, horrible deaths.
He noted articles about white South Africans fleeing their home country due to violence.
A white South African company was violently attacked and burial sites that have been documented across the country.
When you look at the videos, I mean, how does it get any worse? The president said.
Inflation And Affordable Housing00:15:03
And these are people that are officials.
They're people saying, kill the white farmer and take their land.
I have other friends in South Africa, those who have left.
One in particular says you cannot safely go there.
He said they want to take your land and they want to kill you.
Again, the President of South Africa claimed the speeches in the clips are not government policy.
In South Africa, people are allowed to express themselves.
It was disgraceful.
In the meantime, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. singled out four potential causes for the crisis impacting nearly half of America's children.
The HH secretary pointed to four potential causes of childhood chronic disease in a bombshell report that was released Thursday, the first step in Trump's administration's plan to reverse what he calls a crisis impacting 40% of America's kids.
This is the movement to make America healthy again.
The port identified poor diet, environmental chemicals, lack of physical activity, and chronic stress, as well as the over-medicalization of our children as the possible causes for the persistent maladies, including obesity, autism, cancer, mental health issues, and allergies.
When we come back, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pultey, is going to join us and talk to us about President Donald Trump's commitment to make housing affordable in America again.
So whatever you do, don't touch that dial.
We'll be right back in the stone zone after these messages.
The Stone Zone on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
Rural Americans deserve access to the best our nation has to offer, especially when it comes to health care.
Across every state and every community, America's rural hospitals are the first line of defense, protecting our families, neighbors, and loved ones.
No matter where you live, hospital care doesn't clock out.
They're there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Each year, America's over 5,000 hospitals care for millions of patients, providing 24-7 emergency care, delivering babies, cancer treatments, and other life-saving care that patients rely on.
Behind every one of those patients are doctors, nurses, and caregivers working tirelessly to keep people healthy and safe.
Hospitals are our community's lifelines.
They employ our neighbors and keep our families health.
But now, some in Congress are threatening access to care.
Tell Congress, protect patient care to keep America strong.
Don't cut rural health care.
The Stone Zone on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
Welcome back in the Stone Zone.
We're joined now by William Pulte.
Bill Pulte is a dynamic American businessman and philanthropist who was appointed as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in March of 2025.
He is a successful entrepreneur and businessman.
He is the grandson of William J. Pulte, the founder of Pulte Group, one of the nation's largest and best-known homebuilders.
He is a former director of Pulte Homes and the chief executive officer of Pulte Capital Partners before joining the government.
And now, I believe Bill Pulte's appointment demonstrates President Donald Trump's pledge to make housing affordable again and to expand the affordable housing across the country.
Bill Pulte, welcome to the Stone Zone.
Thank you, Roger.
Always good talking to you.
So we have a little bit of time before we have to go to break, and then we'll have more time to talk about your commitment to President Trump's agenda to make housing more affordable and to extend the housing stock in America.
But how did you find things when you were first appointed to the Federal Housing Finance Agency?
You have oversight of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the most important engines for financing of homes in America.
But I remember you telling me that virtually nobody was showing up for work.
Yeah, we had 16,000 people, Roger, if you can believe that.
And most all of them were not going to work.
And it's crazy to think about it because these are the two largest companies in terms of asset size in the world.
Roger, we have, and Americans have, these two companies, Fannie Mae, with $4.4 trillion in assets.
Can you believe that?
And $3.4 trillion at Freddie Mac.
These are huge American icons.
And until President Trump showed up on the scene, as far as I'm concerned, no other presidents really gave a damn about these two companies.
You told me a great story, which I'm going to ask you to repeat.
You told a driver to take you to one of their corporate headquarters, and he didn't know where it was because he'd never been there.
Yeah, he said, I don't think those exist.
I wanted to go to the Fannie Mae office in Virginia and the Freddie Mac office in Virginia.
And he said, sir, I don't think we have offices out there.
And this is the guy who had been with all of the directors since inception.
So, look, you know, it is what it is.
What's happened in the past has happened.
But now we're in the driver's seat and we're affecting positive change.
We've been on the job eight weeks and we're moving at lightning speed because President Trump was given a mandate and we are doing everything we can to fill that out.
When we come back, I'm going to ask Bill Pulte about this Truth Social post by President Donald Trump.
He said yesterday, I'm giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public.
I'm speaking with Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, Secretary of Commerce Howard Luttnick, and director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pultey, among others, and we'll be making a decision in the near future.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of cash, and the time would seem right to take them public.
So stay tuned.
When we come back, I'm going to ask Bill Pulte about that potentially historic posting on social media by President Donald Trump and talk about the prospects for more affordable housing, which is the marching order that President Trump has clearly given the agency director Bill Pulte, who joins us today.
Thanks for joining us in the Stone Zone today.
Bill Pulte probably knows more about housing than anybody I know.
Like Donald Trump, he's a businessman.
He doesn't come from government or politics.
He comes from the private sector.
I'm anxious to get his answers on the other side.
Whatever do, don't touch that dial because we'll be right back in the Stone Zone in just a few minutes.
The Stone Zone on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
The Stone Zone on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
Welcome back to the Stone Zone.
We're talking to Bill Pote.
He was appointed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency by President Donald Trump.
And in that role, he takes very seriously his charge from President Trump to make housing affordable for all Americans.
Again, he has already enacted incredible reforms at that agency.
But let me ask you, how have inflation and the interest rates affected the current housing market?
And this is a matter of personal opinion.
Do you think the Federal Reserve should cut rates to create a further housing boom in America?
Well, I agree with all of President Trump's comments on the Fed needing to lower rates.
I would say that the inflation under Biden, and we all know this, was astronomical.
And what happens for people who don't know about mortgage rates and why mortgages are so unaffordable is mortgage rates generally track inflation rates.
So when inflation goes up, often mortgage rates go up.
And the reason for that is basically that, you know, when inflation goes up, people want to use interest rates to keep inflation down.
And so now we've got the situation that is a total mess that was created in the last four years.
And Roger, we're working every day to reverse the damage that's occurred in the last four years.
I'm incredibly optimistic that the president's going to be able to turn around the housing market and make houses affordable again, but we definitely have our work cut out for us.
Yeah, you recently upset the Democrats by firing the chief executive officers of both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, appointing yourself chairman, because, of course, you report directly to President Donald Trump.
What made these moves necessary?
Well, we saw a lot of fraud in the companies, and we, frankly, were frustrated with some of the poor decisions that were being made.
And, you know, like any good manager, when you come in and you don't think that things are being done right, you take what the required action is.
And so we went in and we took the action.
And I'll tell you, the best thing we ever did was become chairman because that gives you the ability to actually control things.
And when you're responsible for things, you need to be able to control the outcome.
I don't know how anyone can get anything done if they're accountable for something and they have no influence on the outcome.
And as you know, Roger, these companies, or said differently, anything that is affiliated in any way with the government, you know, they have almost like a deep state to them.
In other words, there's these people who just do not want progress to happen.
And, you know, what's funny is when you think somebody's on your side and then you find out that they really aren't, you know, that's the deep state.
It's where you don't think that people are going to show up.
And so we were just a fan of getting rid of the cancers that we believed were there.
And then, you know, hopefully the businesses will be stronger than ever before.
And I can tell you, Roger, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are stronger than ever.
So you mentioned finding a lot of mortgage fraud after digging around in your new position.
Is the fraud anywhere near the level of mortgage fraud that we saw in like 2007, 2008 that caused a mortgage crisis back then?
No, I don't think so.
But as you know, we want to avoid the slippery slope and we want to stop mortgage fraud where it is.
You know, I referred Letitia James to the Department of Justice, you may have seen for what we believe to be mortgage fraud.
You know, I don't want to comment too much beyond that letter, but I would say to you, generally speaking, Roger, that, you know, there is an issue in this country where people are claiming that they live in one state and going and buying property in another.
There is also a situation where people are overstating their earnings.
There's also situations where people are claiming that they have more units and buildings or less units in buildings in order to get access to financing that would only be available at certain levels.
So, you know, we are taking a very strong approach to it.
It doesn't matter, Roger, whether you're a politician or whether you have an esquire after your name.
If you commit mortgage fraud in this country, we are going to come after you, period.
Well, no person is above the law.
I forget it was who said that, but I think she's about to find out.
Bill, your reaction to the passage last night of, I think, the single largest tax cut in American history by the House of Republicans.
Well, it's following from the president's mandate, and obviously, you know, the president's mandate speaks for itself.
Look at what's happening now with the House of Representatives.
I'm sure the Senate will pass it in due course, hopefully, God willing, and we'll be off to the races.
But look, we've got a lot of work ahead of us, Roger.
These last four years, what happened with inflation and what happened with housing costs?
You know, President Trump doesn't get much credit, but he's been able to bring down the inflation and housing costs.
And I wish that would be reported more.
I saw an interview you said there are a lot of things put in place during the first Trump administration that the Biden administration canceled and that you have brought back.
Can you mention a few?
Well, we've brought just back getting rid of all of the bureaucracy, even from the Obama era, if you can believe it.
I mean, we still have regulations that are just complete and utter nonsense that have been in place since Obama that were requiring all this bureaucracy, all of this reporting.
Roger, I mean, we saved almost $100 million.
Think about that.
$97 million is the exact number that I was told by the CFO of Fannie Mae.
$97 million just by getting rid of useless reporting, useless bureaucracy at Fannie Mae alone.
I mean, these numbers are astounding.
And by the way, Roger, not a day goes by where I don't get shocked with millions of dollars that we're saving.
The Fannie and Freddie are now extremely profitable, but nothing compared to what they could be.
I want to ask you about this tweet, or I should say, I think it was his first true social posting.
The president said, I'm giving serious consideration to taking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public.
I'll be speaking with Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, Secretary of Commerce Howard Luttnick, and the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Poultry, among others.
And we'll be making a decision in the near future.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of cash, and the time would seem to be right.
So stay tuned.
Bill Poultry, what is the case for taking both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public?
Well, the president puts it better than anyone, and he says point blank, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing well, and they are.
People are back in the office.
These things are spitting out cash.
And frankly, if we have our way with them, which we will, they will be great American icons once again that have tremendous, tremendous earning power, and that inerts to the benefit of the American people.
The whole reason that we did what we did with the chairmanship and taking a strong approach to making sure that there are good outcomes with this situation is exactly to make sure that we can deliver on what President Trump is saying, which is making sure that these businesses are spitting out cash and doing better than ever before.
I'll defer to the president in terms of what his truth post will mean.
Ultimately, he will be the one making the decision on it.
However, in the meantime, my main focus is on making sure that through the chairmanship, but most importantly through the directorship at FHFA, Federal Housing, through President Trump, that we are keeping all of our options open and running these businesses in tip-top shape.
And I can tell you, Roger, when you have 16,000 employees and no one showing up at work, they were not in tip-top shape under Biden.
They were in the toilet, and we're getting them back.
We're getting them back up and running, and we're going to get going again.
I noticed one of your critics said this on social media.
I'll give you a chance to respond to it.
Somebody said that if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken public, it would cause the value of housing bonds to crash.
Your view?
Well, we're extremely sensitive to, and we'll make sure that any study that we do in terms of this whole process and just thinking about it in general has to really be focused on making sure that there's not an upward pressure on mortgage rates.
Safety and Soundness Mortgage00:07:03
And I'm very focused on it.
We're very focused on it.
And I think that it's going to be something that's very important to us.
So first and foremost, Roger, no matter what happens is the safety and soundness of the mortgage market.
And I can guarantee you we are going to make sure that the mortgage market is safe, sound, and that there are not increased costs, no matter what the outcome is.
About a week ago, I think it was, I had Barry Habib, one of the nation's leading experts on both the housing and the mortgage market, a man who's actually credited with saving the mortgage market back in the past when he made a stunning presentation to the Federal Reserve.
And he made an excellent case for taking these public.
He also expressed great confidence in your leadership at FHFA, I might add.
I guess my concern here is that there are those out there who don't understand that Donald Trump, kind of like Bill Potey, is first and foremost a businessman, an entrepreneur, an understand man who understands the dynamic of business, and that these decisions made by the president, I think, could lead to a true golden age in terms of not just affordable housing,
but a drop in inflation, lower grass prices, lower food prices.
I really do think we're on the cusp of a golden age.
We are.
We are, but he has to reverse what's gone on the last four years.
And I keep saying this.
And, you know, it's not something we want to talk about.
But, I mean, Roger, the inflation that happened in the last four years is borderline.
You know, I mean, I don't even want to say it.
It's just not good.
It's just not good what happened under Biden.
And to your point, President Trump has gotten groceries down, eggs down, and he's gotten oil down.
One of the things he doesn't get credit for is home prices.
Home prices are not sky high in terms of rate of change quarter over quarter like they were.
I mean, Roger, people couldn't afford homes.
People could barely afford their rent.
So yes, we are on the cusp of that.
And I'm very positive and very positive about the economy under President Trump.
But what he's doing right now is nothing short of Herculean to turn around what happened in the last four years.
An amazing report just the other day, which was something Barry Habib had kind of tipped us to, which is virtually all of the job creation numbers published during the Biden years were bogus.
So they would project a net gain of 60,000 jobs, and it got huge headlines.
And then, of course, three days later, they would quietly restate that, ratcheting the numbers way down.
Of course, the second story never got any coverage.
So, I mean, most of the economic information that the Bureau of Labor Statistics was giving us had been cooked, cooked for political purposes, cooked to try to affect the 2024 election.
I'm not sure what can be done to ensure that the information being put forward by some of these federal agencies, which sadly are still riddled with holdovers, with people who are loyal to the last regime or loyal to the institution rather than committed to the president's pro-growth, pro-opportunity agenda.
But I think that it should be a high priority.
I agree.
And I think that, look, you got a great team, a great economic team, and they're going to get to the bottom of anything I believe as it comes up or as it's been done that they believe is untoward.
But, you know, in terms of our mortgage fraud, that's really where our focus is on, as you know, and making sure that there is safety and soundness in the mortgage market.
So I can't really help in that area, but I can tell you one thing, Roger.
We are laser focused on this mortgage fraud.
And as I said earlier, if you are a politician or you are a famous person or you are a lawyer and you think you can get away with mortgage fraud in this country, you are underestimating what we are going to do to get rid of mortgage fraud.
You know, you have sweeping powers in that area.
And this idea that you are somehow weaponizing the system.
I mean, the facts are the facts.
This has all been very heavily documented.
We had Sam Antar, who is the publisher and editor of whitecollarfraud.com, who did the original analysis on this.
He shows you the actual documents.
So this isn't conjecture.
This isn't a projection.
This isn't polemics or propaganda.
The signed notarized documents are what they are.
And it is very compelling in the question of Attorney General Letitia James.
And then she just says the New York Times, oh, well, yes, I did sign a power of attorney in which I said that I was going to occupy this home in Virginia.
It would be my principal residence.
But before that, I signed an application that didn't say that.
Well, there is no such application.
New York Times just writes that as a fact, but you can look in the records.
There is no such notarized application.
It is amazing how the media seeks to cover for her.
And then I don't know if you saw this bill, but they actually tried to move legislation in the New York state legislature where the taxpayers of New York would pay for her legal defense, her defense in actions she took, not as Attorney General, not in her official capacity as Attorney General, but as a private citizen.
Actions that she took that appear to me to constitute a 22-year record of mortgage fraud.
And the Democrats want the taxpayers of New York to pay for her legal defense.
She hired the lawyer Abby Lowell.
He last represented Hunter Biden.
He'll sign his name to anything, whether it's true or not.
But I can tell you this, he's not cheap.
I see no reason why the taxpayers of New York should pay for that.
Bill, you don't have to comment on any of that.
I don't expect you to.
I did see I appreciate it.
And as I said, I can't comment beyond the letter.
But just as a general matter as it pertains to mortgage fraud, to your point, look, we look at housing and mortgages as not political.
I mean, we want a strong housing market.
We want a strong mortgage market.
It doesn't matter whether you're black, white, Republican, Democrat, politician, lawyer, famous person, not famous person, if you commit mortgage fraud, in our view, you are a threat to the market.
Very, very well put.
I saw in an interview the other day that you said when you got to FHFA, you found people working there posing as Americans, but who were not even U.S. citizens, Chinese citizens, Indian citizens.
Banks and Affordable Building Materials00:04:42
When we come back, I'm going to ask you about that.
I'm also going to ask you, given your family's reputation as builders, isn't part of the housing boom, the need to bring the cost of housing building materials down?
We'll be back with Bill Pulte to answer those questions on the other side.
Please, whenever you don't touch that dial, we'll be right back in the Stone Zone in just a minute.
The Stone Zone on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
The Stone Zone on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
And we're back in the Stone Zone for our final segment.
We're talking to William Pulte.
He was appointed by President Donald Trump as the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, FHFA, after a stunning, at least successful business career.
He's an entrepreneur, businessman.
Homebuilding is in his blood.
His family, of course, is known as one of the premier homebuilding companies in the country.
He's also one of the earliest pioneers of online philanthropy, philanthropy, pardon me.
And we're glad to have him.
Bill, when it comes to housing, it's not just the availability of mortgages.
Don't we have to bring down the cost of home building materials?
I mean, roofing materials, bricks, wood, all the things, cement, all things go into home building.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
But under Biden, Roger, all these materials went up.
They went sky high.
And now we're trying to wrestle them and wrestle the ascent back to normal levels.
I mean, it was crazy what had gone on.
We really have to give credit, Roger, to President Trump because you look at what has happened to oil prices, which are a leading indicator for some of this.
You look at what's happened with groceries.
You look at what's happened with eggs.
Now we're starting to see it in some of these products, Roger.
And that's absolutely critical.
Drywall has become more affordable.
Lumber has become more affordable.
Kitchen and Bash countertops have become more affordable.
And so these things are very important because, as you said, it takes two to tango.
You need the products and you need the mortgages to be affordable.
And one without the other, you're going to be in trouble.
And thankfully, we have a president, I believe, who understands that.
As the chief regulator for federal home loan banks, what have you told the heads of those banks?
I told them we got to get rid of climate.
We got to get rid of DEI as a result of, you know, what we look for when we go to hire board members.
It's crazy that we are focusing on climate and DEI in terms of lending money to people at a local level.
We need to focus on lending to banks.
We need to focus on lending to businesses.
We need to focus on lending to things that create jobs, not this nonsense DEI and climate stuff.
So we're getting back to business, Roger, and that's our mandate.
And that's what we told.
I oversee Roger through that position through the banking side of things.
A trillion dollars, $1 trillion is on the balance sheet of these 11 banks.
And we take it very seriously, just like we do the $7.8 trillion in the mortgage market.
All right.
I want to thank our guest, Bill Pulte.
He is, as I say, the director of the Federal Home Finance Agency and the man who's carrying out President Donald Trump's mandate to make housing affordable again and available again.
He also, as has been reported, recently sent a letter to the Department of Justice referring New York Attorney General Letitia James to that office for what his office investigators found as a serial series of actions that he and his investigators deemed as mortgage fraud.
The next step will be left up to the Department of Justice.
It has been confirmed by FBI Director Kash Patel that they are investigating.
It's also been confirmed that a grand jury to look at those claims has been impaneled in Virginia.
We will keep you up to date on that.
When the president decides whether or not he wants to take Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public, as he speculated he may do in a true social posting last night, Bill, we'd love you to come back in the Stone Zone and talk to us about the implications of that.
So thank you again for joining us.
Investigation Update00:00:57
Great talking to you.
It's great to have you.
For our friends out there listening to the Stone Zone, God bless you and Godspeed.
Until tomorrow.
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