New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted Thursday on federal mortgage fraud charges, a case widely viewed as part of Donald Trump’s intensifying campaign of retribution against his political rivals.
The Democratic attorney general, who enraged Trump by suing him for allegedly inflating his wealth to build his business empire, now faces counts of bank fraud and false statements tied to a 2020 home purchase in Norfolk, Virginia.
Prosecutors claim James misrepresented the property as a second home to secure better loan terms, then rented it out to a family instead. The case was filed by Lindsey Halligan, a former White House aide and Trump lawyer who was abruptly appointed as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after the administration ousted the career prosecutor previously overseeing the matter.
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According to officials familiar with the proceedings, Halligan personally presented the case to a grand jury, the same approach she took weeks earlier when pursuing charges against former FBI Director James Comey, who was also accused of lying to Congress. Both indictments have sparked accusations that the Trump administration is using the Justice Department as a weapon against its critics.
In a statement, James dismissed the indictment as “nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.”
“These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,” she said. “The president’s actions are a grave violation of our Constitutional order.”
James also condemned the decision to remove veteran prosecutor Erik Siebert and replace him with someone she described as “blindly loyal” to the president. “I stand by my investigation of Trump and his company as having been based on the facts and evidence — not politics,” she added.
Her attorney, Abbe Lowell, echoed that sentiment, asserting that James “flatly and forcefully denies these charges.” He said, “When a President can publicly direct charges to be filed against someone — when it was reported that career attorneys concluded none were warranted — it marks a serious attack on the rule of law.”
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James is scheduled to appear in federal court in Norfolk on October 24, according to AP’s report.
Meanwhile, Halligan defended the indictment, stating, “The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust. The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”
Trump has spent months calling for James’ prosecution, claiming, without evidence, that she is “guilty as hell.” The Justice Department has also been investigating other prominent Trump critics, including Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook and Sen. Adam Schiff, who both dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.
James’ indictment marks a striking turn in the deepening feud between Trump and the officials who once held him to account. As attorney general, she filed numerous suits against his administration and won a massive civil judgment against him, later reduced on appeal, for fraudulently inflating property values.
Her lawyer described the case as “the clearest example yet of a President turning federal power into a personal weapon of revenge.”
Is Letitia James’ indictment a pursuit of justice, or political payback from the Trump administration?
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