New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted Thursday in a mortgage fraud case, a move President Donald Trump reportedly pushed for after vowing revenge against some of his fiercest political rivals.
James, a Democrat who enraged Trump during his first term by suing him over allegations that he built his business empire on lies about his wealth, now faces charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution over a 2020 home purchase in Norfolk, Virginia.
The top federal prosecutor in Virginia’s Eastern District, a former Trump aide, personally took the case to the grand jury just weeks after stepping into the role amid intense pressure from the administration to bring charges.
Coming just two weeks after a separate criminal case accusing former FBI Director James Comey of lying to Congress, the indictment underscores the Trump administration’s relentless, norm-breaking push to wield the Justice Department’s power against political opponents and those who once investigated the president.
In a lengthy statement, James slammed the indictment as “nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.”
“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,” she added.
Both the Comey and James cases took a strikingly unusual path to indictment. Last month, the Trump administration pushed out Erik Siebert, the veteran prosecutor who had led both investigations for months and resisted pressure to bring charges, replacing him with Lindsey Halligan—a White House aide and former Trump lawyer with no prior experience as a federal prosecutor.
Lindsey Halligan, outside of the White House, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Halligan personally presented the James case to the grand jury, just as she had with the Comey case, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, the source confirmed her direct involvement.
James called the decision to fire Siebert and replace him with a prosecutor who is “blindly loyal” to the president “antithetical to the bedrock principles of our country,” and she said she stood by her investigation of Trump and his company as having been “based on the facts and evidence — not politics.”
Abbe Lowell, James’ attorney and a high-profile lawyer for multiple Trump targets, said James "flatly and forcefully denies these charges." She is set to make her initial appearance in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia, on October 24.
“We are deeply concerned that this case is driven by President Trump’s desire for revenge,” Lowell said in a statement. “When a President can publicly direct charges to be filed against someone — when it was reported that career attorneys concluded none were warranted -- it marks a serious attack on the rule of law. We will fight these charges in every process allowed in the law.”
James, 66, has served as New York’s attorney general since 2019, making history as the first Black woman elected to statewide office in the state. She easily won reelection in 2022 after abandoning a brief bid for governor.
The indictment centers on James’ purchase of a modest home in Norfolk, where she has family. At the time, she signed a standard document known as a "second home rider," agreeing to use the property primarily for her "personal use and enjoyment for at least one year," unless the lender granted an exception.
Instead of using the home as a second residence, the indictment alleges, James rented it to a family of three. Prosecutors claim this misrepresentation enabled her to secure loan terms that wouldn’t have been available for an investment property.
Shortly after the indictment was announced, Attorney General Pam Bondi tweeted on X, "One tier of justice for all Americans."
“No one is above the law,” Halligan, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. “The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust. The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”
For months, Trump has pushed for charges against James, claiming on social media—without presenting any evidence—that she’s "guilty as hell," and telling reporters at the White House, "It looks to me like she’s really guilty of something, but I really don’t know."
The Justice Department has also investigated mortgage-related allegations against Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook—using the probe to push for her removal-and against Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., whose attorney called the claims "transparently false, stale, and long debunked."
But James has become a particularly personal target. As attorney general, she sued the Republican president and his administration dozens of times. Last year, she secured a staggering judgment against Trump and his companies in a lawsuit accusing him of defrauding banks by inflating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements.
An appeals court tossed the $500 million fine, which had grown with interest, but upheld a lower court’s ruling that Trump had committed fraud.
The indictment comes a day after Comey made his first court appearance in his case, which accuses him of lying to Congress in 2020. Comey’s attorney told the judge that the defense intends to move to dismiss the case before trial, calling it a vindictive prosecution directed by the president.
