Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), had previously been tight-lipped about his reasoning for ousting 14 board members at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and installing himself as chairman of both boards on March 17, shortly after assuming office as chief regulator of the government-sponsored mortgage giants.

But during a Tuesday appearance on Fox Business, Pulte asserted that the FHFA has the authority to dictate board matters at Fannie and Freddie.

“We got rid of a bunch of different board members, and we basically are exerting the authority that the U.S. federal housing (agency) has and has always had,” Pulte said. “It’s always been essentially the board chair, the board itself, the stockholders. And really what we’re trying to do is run these things as businesses.”

A group of Democratic senators, led by Andy Kim and Elizabeth Warren, disagrees with Pulte’s ideas of governance at Fannie and Freddie, which are shareholder-owned, publicly traded companies. They maintain that the companies should have separate board leadership unaffiliated with the entity that oversees and regulates them.

In an April 15 letter, the senators requested that the Office of Inspector General launch an inquiry into Pulte’s actions as FHFA head. Specifically, they questioned the legality of Pulte’s dual role as regulator and board chairman, citing a U.S. Code statute which states that the director of the FHFA may not “hold any office, position or employment in any regulated entity or entity-affiliated party.”

The debate over Pulte’s board chairmanship may be rendered moot if the Trump administration decides to privatize Fannie and Freddie and remove the companies from federal conservatorship.

During the Fox interview, Pulte said the decision of whether to end Fannie’s and Freddie’s conservatorship rests with President Donald Trump.

“Ultimately, it will be up to him,” Pulte said. “What my job is, is to make sure that we have operational efficiency, that we keep our options open.”