President Donald Trump’s federal housing finance director, Bill Pulte, quietly granted government-backed lenders the authority to nearly double a $200 billion bond purchase that Trump ordered to try to lower mortgage rates. That’s according to an email obtained by The Associated Press. The move could introduce a new level of risk for the companies. The purchasing rule changes would reverse nearly two decades of bipartisan consensus that limits should be imposed after the government bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008-09. That crisis led to to them being placed into a government conservatorship.
