New York Attorney General Letitia James pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal charges accusing her of lying on mortgage papers to secure favorable loan terms in a case pushed by President Trump. James' first court appearance in Virginia sets the stage for a high-stakes legal battle between the Republican administration and James, a longtime Trump adversary who angered him with a major civil fraud case she brought against him, per the AP. James was indicted this month after the top federal prosecutor who'd been overseeing the investigation was pushed out by the Trump administration, and after the president publicly called on the DOJ to take action against James and other political foes.
James faces bank fraud and false-statements charges in connection with a 2020 home purchase in Norfolk, Virginia, where she has family. The AG, who has sued Trump and his administration dozens of times, has consistently denied wrongdoing and decried the indictment as "nothing more than a continuation of the president's desperate weaponization of our justice system." During the sale, James signed a standard document called a "second home rider" in which she agreed to keep the property primarily for her "personal use and enjoyment for at least one year," unless the lender agreed otherwise. Rather than using the home as a second residence, the indictment alleges, James rented it out to a family.
Per the indictment, the misrepresentation allowed James to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties. Her lawyers have already signaled they'll challenge the appointment of former Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, the US attorney who brought the indictment. Halligan was appointed after Erik Siebert—the longtime prosecutor who resisted Trump administration pressure to bring charges—resigned. After Siebert's resignation, Trump put up a post online calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute James and other political foes.
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Separately on Thursday, defense lawyers said they intended to challenge Halligan's appointment, a step also taken this week by attorneys for ex-FBI Director James Comey in a different case filed by Halligan. Comey has been charged with lying to Congress in a criminal case filed days after Trump appeared to urge Bondi to prosecute him; Comey has pleaded not guilty. A third Trump adversary, former national security adviser John Bolton, pleaded not guilty last week to charges against him of emailing classified information to family members and keeping top-secret documents at his Maryland home. More here.
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