The reporter who broke the story about Sen. Elizabeth Warren's buying and selling of foreclosed houses told
Newsmax TV how the Massachusetts Democrat refused to answer questions about the profit-making side business, despite the fact she's publicly warned against flipping real estate.
"She is somebody that's come out and said this is too risky, come out and warned about the dangers of foreclosure and [she's] done it herself," National Review writer Jillian Kay Melchior said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
Story continues below video.
Watch Newsmax TV on DirecTV Ch. 349, DISH Ch. 223 and Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system — Click Here Now
"I'm all for capitalistic activity, but for her, that would've been worth disclosing and when we found it out, it would've been worth taking on the record questions about what she also failed to do."
According to Melchior's National Review piece, Warren and her husband took in at least $240,500 by flipping houses between 1993 and 1998. And she allegedly did so before stitching together her political career by standing up for everyday Americans.
"We were able to find about five homes in Oklahoma she had bought and sold for a significant profit. That's interesting as a hypocrisy point because she's somebody who's taken to the public forum and said home flipping is very risky, very speculative," Melchior told Malzberg.
She pointed to one of the Warren flips she said particularly stood out.
"This home was owned by a great-grandmother, Veo Vessels. She passed away [and her] … daughter Mary Frances Hickman took it," Melchior said.
"Hickman was an Avon salesman for 40 years … one of the top Avon representatives in America for a little bit, but she ended up selling this home … for $30,000 to Elizabeth Warren. This is a beautiful brick home … [that] had fallen into a little bit of disrepair, but that's a very low price.
"Warren invested a little bit of money in it and then five months later … she sold it for $145,000. That's a 383 percent profit … This is exactly the kind of story that she likes to tell about capitalists taking advantage of the little guy. Here, she is doing it. No answer from her."
Melchior said she reached out to Warren in a bid to find out if there were any extenuating circumstances.
"We wanted records because it is valid to engage in capitalistic activity, but she was unwilling to provide [them]," she said.
Warren has been rumored to be weighing a run against Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.