Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California is suing a Trump administration official for allegedly violating privacy rights in order to seek prosecution of the president’s political enemies.

Swalwell, who is running for the governorship of California, filed a 19-page federal civil lawsuit against Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte.

Swalwell alleged in his lawsuit that the charges against him were filed ‘at a critical juncture in his career.’

The housing official referred Swalwell to the Department of Justice for alleged mortgage and tax fraud.

“Pulte’s brazen practice of obtaining confidential mortgage records from Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac and then using them as a basis for referring individual homeowners to DOJ for prosecution is unprecedented and unlawful,” the lawsuit alleged.

Swalwell also posted a statement on social media.

“Today I have filed a civil lawsuit against FHA director Bill Pulte for violating the Privacy Act and First Amendment,” he wrote.

“Director Pulte has combed through private records of political opponents. To silence them,” Swalwell added. “There’s a reason the First Amendment — the freedom of speech — comes before all others.”

Pulte was instrumental in the charges that were brought up against New York Attorney General Letitia James. Those charges were dismissed by a federal judge on Monday, but the Trump administration vowed to appeal.

Swalwell alleged in his lawsuit that the charges against him were filed “at a critical juncture in his career: the very moment when he had planned to announce his campaign for Governor of California.”

Pulte also helped bring criminal referrals against Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff (Calif.), as well as Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook.

RELATED: Eric Swalwell challenges Greg Gutfeld to bench press contest after getting mocked — and gets ridiculed again

CBS News said the Federal Housing Finance Agency did not respond to a request for a comment.

Swalwell added a quote from novelist George Orwell: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Swalwell lawsuit, Swalwell sues bill pulte, Bill pulte, Mortgage fraud, Politics 

For the majority of modern Americans, scrolling, computer work, streaming, and other forms of screen time have largely, if not completely, replaced reading, introspection, and deep conversation.

We are very quickly becoming “stupid slugs,” Glenn Beck says.

And he means stupid quite literally. Studies have proven time and again that our ability to concentrate and stay focused has become almost laughable. Recent reports indicate that Netflix and other digital entertainment companies are considering adapting content strategies — simplifying narratives, dialogue, and visuals — to accommodate viewers’ shortened attention spans and inability to follow complex plotlines.

“Everything that we’re doing online is fracturing attention, memory, and sustained reasoning,” Glenn says. “So, at what point does this become an epidemic? At what point are our minds starving for any kind of nutrition as we just feed them calories of noise?”

But our own rapid cognitive erosion isn’t even the wildest story. A new study has revealed that AI also experiences brain rot from consuming the same virtual junk that’s making humans dumber.

Large language models like Grok, ChatGPT, and Gemini “are trained on junk web content — so viral, shallow, high-engagement stuff,” Glenn says.

Just like a chronically online person, AI bots are experiencing a decline in “reasoning ability” and “long-context memory.” Further, “dark personality traits (psychopathic tendencies and narcissism)” begin to emerge the longer the bot feeds on digital junk — eerily similar to the terminally online rage-goblin hunched in a dark basement, marinating in memes and manufactured outrage.

But that’s not even the most disturbing part of the study. When researchers began replacing junk content with “clean, high-quality data,” the AI model was unable to recover to baseline capacity.

“The rot remains. As a man — or now as a machine — thinketh, so he becomes,” Glenn says ominously.

This study is a lesson every person living in the digital age needs to hear, and yet, it’s garnered little attention.

But even if it did attract the eye of the public, would it ultimately make a difference? Glenn is concerned we’ll be “too apathetic to wean ourselves off the digital heroin,” even if the consequences are staring us right in the face.

And then there’s this reality to contend with: Even if people reverse course, the study suggests that it might be too late anyway. The AI bot that fed on junk never could fully recover. Will we be the same?

If that’s our bleak reality, then we must also face the possibility that our children will inherit our shallowness — and most disturbingly, that at some point, our inability to think critically will culminate in the collective loss of human agency.

But even still, Glenn isn’t ready to give up. “Can we get people to actually listen to this and then engage again in thoughtful reading and conversation and meaningful silence?” he asks.

So much is at stake — time, freedom, connection, purpose.

Glenn warns: “It’s up to us, America.”

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Artificial intelligence, Digital age, Brain rot, Blazetv, Blaze media, Ai, Llm 

The safety director at Gateway Community Church of Webster, Texas, is looking for a new job after his arrest for allegedly pretending to be an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Donald Doolittle, 58, pulled out an ICE identification card after getting into an argument over payment with a Houston massage therapist and threatened to have her taken away, according to an affidavit.

Mayans paid him the money, and he allegedly sent her a text saying that she would not hear from ICE agents.

The masseuse, identified as Rita Dumont Mayans, said she showed him a temporary visa.

“He demanded she Zelle him $500, or he would take her away and she would never see her family or children again,” a magistrate said at his court hearing.

Mayans paid him the money, and he allegedly sent her a text saying that she would not hear from ICE agents. He also allegedly told her to delete the texts.

Police were notified about the incident the next day when Mayans spoke to officers at a luncheon.

When he was interviewed by police, he denied being at the business or getting a massage, but security video contradicted his statements.

Doolittle was charged with impersonating a public servant.

RELATED: Man intentionally hit 13-year-old with truck, impersonated officer to kidnap him, says LAPD

The church said Doolittle was fired from his position. The affidavit said that he had worked there for 10 years.

“Upon learning of these allegations on Saturday night, we took immediate steps to ensure the safety and well-being of our congregation and community,” reads a statement from the church.

Bond was set for Doolittle at $10,000.

Critics of ICE agents wearing masks have warned that others could impersonate them in order to harm innocents. The Trump administration has argued the coverings are necessary to protect agents from threats, especially from the far left.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Church worker arrested, Impersonating ice officer, Fake ice officer, Politics, Ice officer extortion 

Another attempt to garner sympathy for the plight of a deported illegal immigrant was undone by devastating information provided in a community note on X.

The New Yorker report documented the deportation of Jamaican national Orville Etoria to a prison facility in Eswatini, a southern African nation. It quoted Etoria as comparing his deportation to the transportation of slaves.

‘If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, you could end up in CECOT, Eswatini, South Sudan, or another third country.’

“It helped me imagine how the slaves might have felt, going to another land in shackles and chains,” Etoria said.

The community note provided pivotal context about the crimes committed by Etoria.

“Orville Etoria has multiple serious felonies including armed robbery and murder. He held a U.S. lawful permanent resident status, which can and was revoked following his criminal convictions.”

While he had previously been a green card holder, the residency status was revoked after the murder and armed robbery convictions, in addition to criminal possession of a weapon and forcible theft with a deadly weapon, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Etoria had served 25 years in prison and upon his release in 2021, officials allowed him to stay in the U.S. as long as he fulfilled annual check-ins. He was deported in July 2025 after President Donald Trump issued new restrictive immigration policies.

“If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, you could end up in CECOT, Eswatini, South Sudan, or another third country,” said a DHS spokesperson about the case to Newsweek.

RELATED: NYTimes is getting hammered online for sympathetic article about criminal illegal alien

Etoria’s aunt had previously told the New York Times that he should have been deported to Jamaica, where he has a valid passport. In September, Etoria was repatriated to Jamaica, according to the foreign affairs minister of that country.

“Every single day President Trump and Secretary Noem fight for justice for American victims of illegal alien crime and nearly every single day the media ignores these victims and their families,” said DHS.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​The new yorker magazine, Media on illegal aliens, Orville etoria, Community note, Politics