Trump Names Mortgage Industry Lobbyist to HUD Transition Team
Trump Names Mortgage Industry Lobbyist to HUD Transition Team
Quicken Loans
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named a top government-relations executive for one of the nation’s largest mortgage companies to the team overseeing the transition at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Shawn Krause is executive vice president of government advocacy for Quicken Loans Inc., the privately held mortgage company that is the largest underwriter of mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration, which is part of HUD.
Ms. Krause, who has been registered to lobby for Quicken since 2009, deregistered as a lobbyist in the last few weeks, a Quicken executive said Tuesday. Ms. Krause was registered to lobby Congress, HUD and other federal regulators as recently as Sept. 30, according to a disclosure form filed Nov. 18.
The Trump transition team ordered all lobbyists removed from its ranks two weeks ago to follow through on campaign pledges made by Mr. Trump to “drain the swamp” in Washington.
Spokesmen for the Trump transition team didn’t respond to inquiries about Ms. Krause’s appointment on Tuesday.
Quicken said Ms. Krause’s role on the Trump transition didn’t pose any conflicts of interest for the lender and said her 26 years at the company made her well-qualified to assist the incoming administration.
“It makes total sense you’d have someone like that. You’re finding people that actually understand housing,” said Bill Emerson,Quicken’s chief executive. “When you think about draining the swamp, this goes right in line with that.”
The U.S. Justice Department sued Quicken last year alleging the lender misled the government over the quality of certain mortgages insured by the FHA between 2007 and 2011. Quicken, which is fighting the lawsuit, has said it is the victim of a “witch-hunt” by federal prosecutors.
The Detroit-based lender also pre-emptively sued the Justice Department and HUD last year, alleging the government unfairly coerced the lender to admit claims of fraud. A federal judge dismissed the case last year, and Quicken has appealed the ruling.
Transition teams have been unveiled across the federal bureaucracy over the last two weeks to gather information about particular government functions. They report back to the Trump headquarters about the state of personnel and policy to facilitate a smooth transition of power when Mr. Trump takes office in January.
Mr. Trump also named Jimmy Kemp, the son of former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp, to the HUD transition team.
Mr. Trump has said he is considering former GOP presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to lead the department. Mr. Carson last week said he might join the Trump administration, reversing his earlier stance that he didn’t want to run a government department.
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