Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, has been indicted over a home loan she got in Virginia. The case claims she said she would live at a house she bought in Norfolk in 2020, even though she didn’t plan to live there full time. Prosecutors say that helped her get a better mortgage deal.
James is calling the charges political. She says this is happening because of her past legal battles with Donald Trump. She’s the one who led the case against him in New York which forced his company to pay hundreds of millions of dollars.
“These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,” James said. “The president’s actions are a grave violation of our Constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties.”
Now, with Lindsey Halligan as the federal prosecutor, who used to work for Trump as a personal attorney, people are wondering what’s going on here. Even legal experts aren’t on the same page. Some say it looks like payback while others are saying the charges should be taken seriously no matter who it is.
James’s lawyers say she will fight the charges. She’s expected to appear in court later this month. Her team says she always followed the rules and did nothing wrong.
“We are deeply concerned that this case is driven by President Trump’s desire for revenge,” said Abbe Lowell, James’ lawyer, 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 is one of the most seen public officials in the country. If this goes to trial, it could drag on for months and bring even more attention to the deep political divides in the justice system right now.
Until then, she’s still in office and still leading the state’s legal efforts. Still, this case is far from over.
