Pulte
walks
into
what
appears
to
be
an
office
floor
lined
with
empty
chairs
and
inactive
computer
monitors.
He
encounters
a
locked
door
when
attempting
to
enter
another
empty
office.

“We
were
just
in
the
other
building,
there
was
nobody
there
for
miles
and
miles
and
miles,”
Pulte
said
in
the
video.
He
then
walked
into
a
cafeteria
area
that
he
said
was
“completely
vacant”
save
for
food
service
workers.

“You’ve
got
the
staff
who
make
the
food
here
five
days
a
week,
but
the
people
who
work
in
this
building
—
or

should
work
in
this
building
—
aren’t
here
five
days
a
week,”
Pulte
said.

Appearing
on
Fox
News
with
Ingraham,
Pulte
said
that
roughly
2,900
people
were
supposed
to
be
working
in
offices
at


Fannie
Mae,
but
only
49
were
consistently
there
full
time,
on
average.
He
later
said
that
the
government
was
spending
$57
million
per
year
on
the
building’s
lease
payments.
Footage
from
the
Fannie
Mae
offices
did
not
appear
in
the
segment.

“Freddie
Mac
has
a
similar
problem;
we’re
going
to
fix
it,”
Pulte
said.
“President
Trump
hired
a
businessman
to
do
this
and
we’re
going
to
fix
it
for
him.”

This
echoes
similar
statements
from


U.S.
Department
of
Housing
and
Urban
Development
(HUD)
Secretary

Scott
Turner
shortly
after
he
assumed
his
role.
Ingraham
asked
Pulte
about
any
diversity,
equity
and
inclusion
(DEI)
initiatives
at
the
GSEs,
to
which
he
said,
“DEI
is
dead
at
Fannie
Mae
and
Freddie
Mac.”

Pulte
said
two
senior
executives
were
removed
as
part
of
the
anti-DEI
crusade,
adding
that
both
companies
are
“safe
and
sound
businesses.”
Ingraham
then
asked
about
a
“Biden
deal,”
and
Pulte
said
this
was
related
to
a
“Biden
insider
that
got
$2
million
in
payments
over
an
eight-month
period.”
He
said
the
person
was
fired
but
that
he
would
“need
to
look
into
it.”

When
asked
further
about
it,
he
described
the
payments
as
related
to
“some
severance,”
but
questioned
why
the
amount
was
so
high.
Pulte
did
not
elaborate
on
the
nature
of
this
finding
beyond
that
it
was
related
to
the

San
Francisco
FHLBank,
one
of
the
11


Federal
Home
Loan
Banks
overseen
by
FHFA.

Ingraham
asked
about
the
nature
of
layoffs
at
the
GSEs.
Pulte
said
that
Fannie
Mae
and
Freddie
Mac
have
“great
staff,”
but
that
he
is
aiming
to
“get
rid
of
the
nonsense,
and
we’re
clearing
that
out.”

Outside
of
the
mass
cuts
to
the
federal
workforce
driven
by
Trump
administration
through
the
Office
of
Personnel
Management
and
DOGE,
the
White
House
has
also
prioritized
returning
more
federal
workers
to
the
office
five
days
a
week.

A
day
after
his
inauguration
in
January,
Trump

issued
an
executive
order
mandating
federal
workers
to
return
to
the
office
full
time.
The
order
was
signed
in
concert
with
a
separate
order
mandating
a
freeze
on
federal
hiring.

The
GSEs
themselves
are
not
federal
agencies,
and
it
was
believed
that
the
order
would
not
encompass
their
workers.
But
the
order
does
apply
to
workers
at
the
FHFA,
the
GSEs’
chief
regulator.

On
Monday,
Pulte
made
one
of
his
first
major
moves
as
FHFA
director
by

removing
14
board
members
across
both
agencies.
He
added
several
new
members
and
appointed
himself
as
chair
of
both
boards.

A
board
chair
does
not
have
inherent
operational
authority
in
a
typical
corporate
hierarchy,
but
they
carry
influence
over
what
the
CEO
chooses
to
pursue.