Letitia James
RICHMOND, Va.— A federal grand jury in Virginia on Thursday indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James on one count of bank fraud, according to a person familiar with the matter, following weeks of public pressure from President Donald Trump for prosecutions of his political adversaries, POLITICO reported.
The charge against James, a Democrat, makes her the second prominent Trump critic to face federal indictment in recent weeks, coming two weeks after former FBI Director James Comey was charged.
POLITICO said details of the case remain unclear, but the Justice Department has been investigating James in connection with alleged mortgage fraud, the person said.
James responded to the indictment in a released statement.
“This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system," James said. "He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York State Attorney General. These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost. The president’s actions are a grave violation of our Constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties.
“His decision to fire a United States Attorney who refused to bring charges against me – and replace them with someone who is blindly loyal not to the law, but to the president – is antithetical to the bedrock principles of our country. This is the time for leaders on both sides of the aisle to speak out against this blatant perversion of our system of justice," continued James. "I stand strongly behind my office’s litigation against the Trump Organization. We conducted a two-year investigation based on the facts and evidence – not politics. Judges have upheld the trial court’s finding that Donald Trump, his company, and his two sons are liable for fraud."