LYNNE PATTON
Region II Administrator
2017-2021
PRESIDENT TRUMP CHOOSES INEXPERIENCED WOMAN WHO PLANNED HIS SON ERIC'S WEDDING TO RUN N.Y. FEDERAL HOUSING PROGRAMS
Now President Trump has appointed longtime loyalist Lynne Patton — who has zero housing experience and claims a law degree the school says she never earned — to run the office that oversees federal housing programs in New York.
June 15, 2017
TRUMP’S FORMER EVENT PLANNER COULD SOON BE IN CHARGE OF FEDERAL HOUSING PROGRAMS IN NEW YORK
Patton is already in a senior role at HUD and has appeared at White House events alongside HUD Secretary Ben Carson.
Thing is, as the Daily News notes, Patton has zero experience in housing matters – federal or otherwise. What she does have is close ties to the Trump family. According to Patton’s LinkedIn page, she began working for The Trump Organization in May 2009. Starting in 2011, she served as the vice president for the Eric Trump Foundation and a “senior aide” to the Trump family.
June 16, 2017
DEM TELLS TRUMP TO REMOVE FAMILY EVENT PLANNER AS HEAD OF NY FEDERAL HOUSING
June 16, 2017
Lynne Patton, who has no housing experience, has worked as a vice president at the Eric Trump Foundation and helped arrange Eric Trump’s wedding, according to the Daily News.
“This not The Apprentice; the federal government is not your personal patronage system,” Meng wrote in a letter to Trump, referencing the reality TV show Trump hosted on NBC.
“I ask that you appoint an individual who is qualified to oversee such a serious task.”
HUD OFFICIAL APOLOGIZES FOR CALLING JOURNALIST ‘MISS PIGGY’
January 25, 2018
“I hear #MissPiggys still on a rampage. Gee, I must’ve struck a nerve, @AprilDRyan! #BankruptBlogger,” Lynne Patton, the HUD administrator for a region which encompasses New York and New Jersey, tweeted from her personal account on Wednesday.
THIS HUD OFFICIAL IS MOVING FROM TRUMP PLAZA INTO PUBLIC HOUSING. IS IT ACCOUNTABILITY, OR A PUBLICITY STUNT?
“I never thought there’d be a HUD official who wanted to live in a NYCHA project, that’s for sure,” said Bloom, who has written a book about New York public housing. “Because HUD is quiet on most other aspects of NYCHA, we have to assume that this is how they are going to make policy — through media and personal dimensions. It’s reality TV.”
November 30, 2018
SENIOR HUD OFFICIAL LYNNE PATTON ATTEMPTS TO CLARIFY CONTROVERSIAL SOCIAL POSTS
September 18, 2018
Lynne Patton, HUD's regional administrator for New York and New Jersey, on Sunday shared a meme on her verified Instagram page, where she is followed by more than 35,000 people, that falsely alleged CNN's Anderson Cooper faked a live shot. Patton, who was previously an aide to President Donald Trump's son Eric, on Sunday also commented positively with two emojis on an Instagram post by Donald Trump Jr. mocking the assault allegations against Kavanaugh.
HUD did not respond to multiple comment requests, including asking if the agency enforces social media guidelines. Patton says on both her personal Instagram and Twitter pages that her views do not reflect those of HUD.
A TRUMP FAMILY AIDE TRIED TO GET A HUD COLLEAGUE FIRED BY NAME-DROPPING ERIC TRUMP
December 31, 2018
In a flurry of emails to the Office of Presidential Personnel in February 2017, Patton sought to remove Maren Kasper, the White House’s HUD liaison, because Patton felt undermined.
“Dr. Carson & his team deem her divisive and disruptive, as do I,” Patton wrote to John DeStefano, assistant to Trump and then director of presidential personnel, and his deputy director, Sean Doocey, on Feb. 8. “If it helps, Eric Trump agrees that it’s best to nip this potential problem in the bud & told me to call Jared [Kushner], if necessary, but I prefer to go through you all first.”
WHY DID A GOP CONGRESSMAN INVITE THIS HUD OFFICIAL TO STAND BEHIND HIM AT THE MICHAEL COHEN HEARING?
“He brought out a black woman who is loyal to President Trump to prove that President Trump is not racist,” tweeted Yamiche Alcindor, White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour. “It was like show and tell. Incredible.”
February 27, 2019
HOW A HUD OFFICIAL TURNED THE MICHAEL COHEN HEARING INTO A REALITY TV AUDITION
In her memo, Patton asked whether she would continue to be subject to government regulations if she took an unpaid leave of absence. She even proposed temporarily resigning her HUD post when filming was expected to begin in the summer of 2019 and asked whether she could legally be rehired after two months.
March 1, 2019
TRUMP HUD OFFICIAL LYNNE PATTON SAYS SHE DOESN'T CARE IF SHE BROKE THE LAW
"Just retweeted this amazing tweet from both of my Twitter accounts–professional and personal. It may be a Hatch Act violation. It may not be. Either way, I honestly don't care anymore," Patton wrote. "These people are determined to try to ruin and discredit a good man."
Responding to criticism for posting the comments, she tweeted on Sunday: "What part about 'I don't give a [s**t]' don't you understand?"
May 27, 2019
A TRUMP OFFICIAL JUST POSTED ON INSTAGRAM THAT JEFFREY EPSTEIN WAS “HILLARY’D”
August 10, 2019
“Hillary’d!!” she posted on Instagram around 10 a.m., alongside a screenshot of a Daily Mail story that described Epstein’s manner of death. She added the hashtag, “#VinceFosterPartTwo,” a reference to the former Clinton aide whose death by suicide has fueled conspiracy theories for more than two decades.
HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT OFFICIAL IS ISSUED A WARNING FOR VIOLATING HATCH ACT
The Office of Special Counsel, which is not associated with former special counsel Robert Mueller, found Patton had violated the Hatch Act and issued her a warning letter, but said it will not pursue disciplinary action. Patton has been advised, according to the letter, that if she violates the act again it will be considered a willful and knowing violation of the law and could result in further action.
September 18, 2019
NEW YORKERS WERE TRICKED INTO APPEARING IN AN R.N.C. VIDEO. THEY’RE FURIOUS.
August 31, 2020
Four tenants soon assembled in front of a video camera and were interviewed for more than four hours by Ms. Patton herself. They were never told that their interviews would be edited into a two-minute video clip that would air on Thursday night at the Republican National Convention and be used to bash Mayor Bill de Blasio, three of the tenants said in interviews on Friday.
“I am not a Trump supporter,” said one of the tenants, Claudia Perez. “I am not a supporter of his racist policies on immigration. I am a first-generation Honduran. It was my people he was sending back.”
EX-TRUMP OFFICIAL FINED AND BARRED FROM GOVERNMENT OVER R.N.C. VIDEO
April 6, 2021
She was among a number of midlevel political appointees in the Trump administration who had little if any experience in their fields and who used their positions to promote the president and his views, often amplifying falsehoods and other misinformation.
FORMER TRUMP HUD OFFICIAL FINED AND BARRED FROM FEDERAL WORK OVER HATCH ACT VIOLATION
April 6, 2021
"Even in an administration marked by a callous disregard for ethics laws, Lynne Patton stood out," Bookbinder said. "What made her behavior particularly egregious was that she not only used her position for political purposes, she misled and exploited public housing residents for political gain, showing little regard for the people she was supposed to be helping and the ethics rules she was supposed to be following."
TRUMP HUD OFFICIAL DISCIPLINED FOR VIOLATING FEDERAL LAW
April 6, 2021
“By using information and NYCHA connections available to her solely by virtue of her HUD position, Patton improperly harnessed the authority of her federal position to assist the Trump campaign in violation of the Hatch Act,” said a statement released by the Office of Special Counsel.