New York AG Letitia James Becomes Latest Target of Trump’s Revenge Tour

The Trump administration has opened an investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of President Donald Trump’s foremost adversaries.

The probe, which  the Albany Times Union first reported last week concerns allegations that James committed fraud by lying on loan and bank documents to obtain better mortgage rates, raises alarm that she may be the next target of Trump’s broad retribution campaign.

James won a $454 million judgement by suing Trump and his family over allegations of faulty business practices and she for years has been among several Democratic state attorneys general who consistently challenge Trump’s policies.

The DOJ’s investigation into James was initiated by a criminal referral from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte. 

Citing “media reports,” Pulte claimed that James secured a better mortgage rate by fraudulently stating that a Norfolk, Virginia, home she was purchasing with her niece in 2023 would be her primary residence. Pulte also said James, to receive better interest rates, lied about the number of units that are in a Brooklyn, New York, property she purchased in 2001 and shares with her family.

A grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia has issued subpoenas over James’ mortgage application for the Norfolk property, the Washington Post reported, citing an anonymous source. 

James’ attorney, the high-profile criminal defense attorney Abbe Lowell, denounced the investigation in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, calling it an act of “improper political retaliation … publicly instigated and endorsed by President Trump.” 

A day before Pulte sent the criminal referral, Trump called James “a totally corrupt politician” and a “wacky crook” who should resign immediately. Just days after Pulte’s letter, White House senior aide Stephen Miller declared James guilty even though no charges or subpoenas had been brought against her.

In the letter, Lowell provided evidence that James repeatedly said she did not want the Norfolk property to be marked as her primary residence, that she wanted the home to be her niece’s residence and she be labeled only as a “non-occupying co-borrower.” Lowell also included official city records that list James’ Brooklyn property as containing four units, which is the number she stated when she purchased it.

“I mean, maybe it’s an elaborate conspiracy to get away with this, but it seems from contemporary records that these are not only good faith mistakes but good faith mistakes that she took efforts to correct,” Will Thomas, a business law professor at University of Michigan, told Democracy Docket.

Thomas said the investigation against James so far raises several red flags. Out of the 50,000 to 60,000 prosecutions the Justice Department brings each year, only a handful — a small fraction of a percentage — of them are mortgage fraud cases, he said.

“Even if you zoomed in on white-collar fraud, it would still be the case that mortgage fraud is less than 1% of the cases the DOJ brings,” Thomas said. 

“It’s not great evidence that she did something wrong, much less that she did something overtly fraudulent and even less that she did something so egregious that the federal government needs to make this one of its 20 fraud cases this year,” Thomas said, though he added that it’s possible that more substantial evidence against James exists but hasn’t been released to the public.

The disclosure of the investigation was abnormal as well, Thomas added. Normally, the FBI and Department of Justice do not publicly announce investigations to protect the integrity of the process, prevent interference and safeguard sensitive information. In this case, DOJ officials have not only confirmed the investigation but have publicly disparaged James.

John Sarcone III, who oversees the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York’s Northern District, told the Times Union that the investigation “is being handled at this time by main [Department of] Justice and the Albany FBI field office” and accused James of being improper and unprofessional. 

“Unlike Letitia James, who unethically ran around the state campaigning on getting Donald Trump… my office conducts itself in a manner that is proper and professional,” Sarcone said.

Thomas said Sarcone’s comment “flagrantly” violated DOJ’s policies around media contacts and making comments on a defendant’s character can prejudice a case.

“The Department of Justice does not comment on investigations. They don’t say there is one. They don’t say there’s not one,” Thomas said. “They don’t because if you say you’re investigating someone and you make them out to be a criminal but don’t prosecute them, then there’s nothing they can do to get their reputation back.”

James is just one of Trump’s many perceived political enemies to be targeted by the government since the start of his second term. 

The president ordered investigations into two former first-term officials who publicly refuted his baseless claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and criticized his administration and stripped dozens of his political opponents of their security clearances.

Trump also directed Bondi to probe the Democratic online fundraising platform ActBlue and has targeted several Democratic-leaning law firms that have hired or represented people or causes he opposes.

The Trump administration has demoted DOJ officials who prosecuted Jan. 6 rioters and fired other officials who assisted with criminal investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents after his first term.