US Justice dept indicts NY Attorney General Letitia James in fraud case

Letitia James was charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a home purchase in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020

New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted on Thursday (local time) on mortgage fraud charges. The case was urged by US President Donald Trump, who promised to seek revenge against his biggest political enemies by pushing the US Justice Department to take action, according to the Associated Press.

 

James is a Democrat who infuriated Trump after his first term with a lawsuit, alleging that he built his business empire by lying about his wealth. She has been New York's attorney general since 2019 after becoming the first black woman to be elected to statewide office.

 

She was charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a home purchase in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020. The indictment pertains to her purchase of a modest house in Norfolk, where her family resides. James signed a standard document, called a second home rider, and agreed to use the property mainly for personal use. However, the indictment alleges that James rented the property to a family of three, and this misrepresentation helped her secure favourable loan terms that are not available for investment properties.

 

 

Weeks after taking the role, the top federal prosecutor for eastern Virginia, a former Trump aide, presented the case personally to the grand jury, after pressure from the Trump administration to deliver charges.

 

In a lengthy statement issued later, James decried the indictment, adding that it is 'nothing more than a continuation of the president's desperate weaponisation of our justice system'. She further called these charges 'baseless', adding that Trump's own public statements indicate that his only goal is political retribution.

 

'The President's actions are also a grave violation of our Constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties,' James said.

 

James' indictment comes weeks after a separate criminal case accusing former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey of lying to Congress. James' indictment further shows that the Trump administration's unprecedented efforts to use the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department to target Trump's political foes and public figures who had once investigated him.

 

It is worth noting that both the Comey and James cases followed an unusual path to indictment. Last month, the Trump administration removed Erik Siebert, the experienced prosecutor who had overseen both investigations for months and had resisted pressure from the administration to file charges. Seibert was replaced by Lindsey Halligan, a former Trump aide, who has worked as a lawyer for him but has never previously served as a federal prosecutor.

 

Criticising the US President's decision to remove Seibert and replace him with Halligan, James said that it is antithetical to the bedrock principles of America. She also affirmed that her investigation of Trump and his company was based on facts and evidence, not politics.

Mortgage-related allegations against Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook

 

The Justice Department has also been investigating mortgage-related charges against Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook, using the probe to seek her ouster. Cook was fired after Trump in August, and a day after her ouster, she decided to sue the Trump administration in an attempt to stop her removal.

 

Trump announced Cook's firing via his private social media platform, Truth Social. Citing constitutional authority, he wrote, "Pursuant to my authority under Article II of the Constitution of the United States and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, as amended, you are hereby removed from your position on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, effective immediately.”