A federal grand jury in Virginia on Thursday indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James on charges related to alleged mortgage fraud, marking the latest case critics say is part of President Donald Trump’s effort to target political adversaries.
The charges were brought by Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s hand-picked interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, who also secured a recent indictment against former FBI Director James Comey.
Halligan, a former personal lawyer for Trump with no prior prosecutorial experience, acted despite career prosecutors resisting the cases.
The five-page indictment accuses James, a Democrat, of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. Prosecutors allege she obtained a mortgage for a Norfolk, Virginia property by claiming it was a second residence but instead used it as a rental investment.
James called the charges “baseless” and criticized the Trump administration for “weaponizing the justice system.” She said in a video statement, “This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate campaign against those who hold him accountable. He’s forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding simply because I did my job as New York’s attorney general.”
James, elected in 2018, previously sued Trump in a civil fraud case related to his real estate business. A 2023 trial resulted in a nearly half-billion-dollar judgment against Trump and his company, though an appeals court later upheld the fraud finding while overturning the financial penalty.
Halligan, who was appointed after Trump pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his political opponents, brought James’ case directly to the grand jury, and her signature is the only one on the indictment. Trump has publicly called for James and Comey to be prosecuted and labeled James “racist” and “grossly incompetent,” making clear his intent to pursue legal action against them.
The criminal referral originated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which accused James of misrepresenting her Norfolk property as a second home to obtain a favorable mortgage. James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, has denounced the allegations as selective and politically motivated, calling them “the next salvo in President Trump’s revenge tour against Attorney General James.”
James’ initial court appearance is scheduled for October 24 before U.S. District Judge Jamar Walker, a Biden appointee. New York Governor Kathy Hochul defended James, calling her “a relentless fighter for justice” and condemning the indictment as “the weaponization of the Justice Department to punish those who hold the powerful accountable.”
This article was first published on Politico
