New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday made her first public appearance since being indicted on federal fraud charges tied to a Virginia property purchase.
Appearing at a lively campaign rally for New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani in Washington Heights, James was met with thunderous applause and chants of “We love Tish!” as she took the stage.
Addressing the crowd, James warned against “powerful voices trying to silence truth and punish dissent,” accusing political opponents of manipulating the justice system. While she avoided naming President Donald Trump, her words were seen as a clear reference to him after months of reports suggesting he urged federal officials to pursue charges.
“We are witnessing the fraying of our democracy, the erosion of our system of government,” she said. “This, my friends, is a defining moment in our history.”
The attorney general urged supporters to defend the rule of law, promising that she would not yield under pressure. “You come for me, you got to come through all of us! Every single one of us!” she declared, drawing loud cheers.
The rally, which also featured WNBA star Natasha Cloud and podcaster The Kid Mero, according to AP, marked the start of the final push for Mamdani’s campaign ahead of the Nov. 4 election. The 33-year-old state lawmaker is facing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the race to replace outgoing Mayor Eric Adams.
Mamdani, a close ally of James and one of Trump’s most vocal critics, denounced her indictment as a “shameless act of political retribution.”
Federal prosecutors last week charged James with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution over her 2020 purchase of a $137,000 home in Norfolk, Virginia. They allege she violated the mortgage agreement by renting the house to tenants instead of using it as her primary residence for at least a year.
James has rejected the allegations as “baseless,” describing the charges as “nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.” She is scheduled to appear in federal court in Virginia on Oct. 24.
If convicted, James would be forced to vacate her office under New York law. Nonetheless, she has used the indictment to rally political and financial support as she prepares for reelection next year.
As attorney general, James became one of Trump’s chief legal opponents, suing him and his businesses dozens of times. Last year, she secured a major court ruling finding that Trump had inflated his assets to defraud banks, though an appeals court later overturned the financial penalties.
Meanwhile, Mamdani, a democratic socialist who would be New York’s first Muslim mayor if elected, has built his campaign around housing affordability and economic equity. Trump has repeatedly attacked him as a “communist,” while Mamdani has branded himself as “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.”
