New York Attorney General Leticia James was indicted by President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Lindsey Halligan (a former beauty queen contestant in Colorado who has never tried a criminal case) after Trump publicly demanded James be prosecuted, reports CNN:
The charges, which have not yet been made public, come as Trump continues to call for his enemies to be prosecuted in court. Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday to allegedly making a false statement in a congressional proceeding.
The Justice Department has also opened investigation into former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, and others.
James’ relationship with Trump has been adversarial for years as James campaigned on promises to investigate Trump and ultimately won a civil fraud case against Trump, his adult sons and his real estate business.
A judge found them liable for fraud for inflating the value of their properties, and ordered Trump to pay $355 million in penalties. Trump has appealed.
Several prosecutors have been fired for refusing to carry out Trump’s orders to prosecute his enemies, reported The Guardian:
The move is the president’s latest effort to weaponize the Department of Justice to punish political rivals. It comes two weeks after Halligan secured charges against James Comey, the former FBI director.
Career prosecutors prepared a memo in that case outlining why charges were not warranted. Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.
The facts of the charges were not immediately clear. A grand jury empaneled earlier this year had been investigating allegations that James may have committed fraud when she helped her niece buy a home in Virginia.
On a document that was part of that transaction, there was a box checked indicating James intended to use it as her primary residence, which would make better mortgage rates available. But in other documents and emails with her mortgage broker, James clearly indicated she did not intend to use the home as her primary residence.
A career prosecutor in the eastern district of Virginia, Elizabeth Yusi, had determined there wasn’t probable cause to file mortgage fraud charges against James and had been preparing to present her thinking to Halligan…
There has been considerable turmoil in the US attorneys office for the eastern district of Virginia in recent weeks. Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor, was removed from his post for failing to bring charges against Comey and James. Maya Song, one of his top deputies, was also fired. A third prosecutor, Michael Ben’Ary, who was not involved in the Comey case was also fired after being targeted by Trump allies online.
(Sources: CNN, The Guardian)