The Trump administration reportedly isn’t ready to give up on indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James for mortgage fraud — despite a judge dismissing the first case against her last month and a grand jury rejecting a second attempt to indict her on Thursday.
The Department of Justice secured its first indictment of James on Oct. 9 from a grand jury seated in Alexandria, Virginia. But that case was thrown out on Nov. 24 by U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who ruled the prosecutor in the case — interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan — had been unlawfully appointed.
Halligan — who had no previous experience as a prosecutor — was reportedly picked by the Trump administration to prosecute James and former FBI Director James Comey when other Justice Department lawyers were reluctant to do so because of the lack of evidence in the cases.
After the cases against James and Comey were dismissed, the Department of Justice then attempted to seek a second indictment of James from another grand jury seated in Norfolk, Virginia.
The Norfolk grand jury refused to indict James based on the evidence that was presented to it, “an unusual event” given that “grand juries seldom reject a prosecutor’s case,” The Washington Post reported.
Grand jury proceedings are conducted in secret, and reports by the Post and other news agencies that the Norfolk grand jury refused to indict James were based on anonymous sources.
The Post and the Associated Press reported that Trump administration officials are not ready to concede defeat — Department of Justice prosecutors can still appeal Currie’s ruling, or try again for another indictment.
In a statement, James said she was “grateful to the members of the grand jury and humbled by the support I have received from across the country.”
“As I have said from the start, the charges against me are baseless,” James said. “It is time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to stop.”
In her role as attorney general, James last year won a $355 million judgment in a civil fraud case against Trump and two of his sons. An appeals court upheld Trump’s liability in August but voided the penalty, which had grown to $515 million with interest, as excessive, NPR reported.
James has appealed and continues to battle the Trump administration in court on a number of other issues, including federal funding for Planned Parenthood, SNAP benefits and programs for the homeless.
Attorneys for James maintained that Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte and three other Trump administration officials engaged in “outrageous conduct” to obtain the Oct. 9 indictment against her, which they characterized as baseless.
At the request of Senate Democrats, the U.S. Government Accountability Office has agreed to investigate whether the FHFA and its employees “misused federal authority and resources” in gathering evidence against James and other perceived enemies of the Trump administration.
In his position as the head of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s federal regulator, Pulte has subjected four prominent Democrats to criminal referrals suggesting they committed mortgage fraud. All deny wrongdoing, and only James has faced charges to date.
California Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of the Democrats subjected to criminal referrals, sued Pulte, the FHFA, Fannie and Freddie on Nov. 25. Swalwell’s lawsuit alleges Pulte’s acquisition and use of confidential mortgage records from Fannie and Freddie violated the Privacy Act of 1974, which forbids federal agencies from disclosing sensitive information about individuals for purposes not explicitly authorized by the law.
Pulte denies weaponizing Fannie and Freddie for political purposes, claiming that mortgage fraud is “rampant” and that the Trump administration will enforce the law against anyone who breaks it, regardless of their political party affiliation.
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