A second grand jury has refused to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, a week after a different grand jury refused to bring charges against the top Trump political foe.
CNN reported Thursday that an Alexandria, Virginia-based grand jury failed to re-indict James, who got in President Donald Trump‘s crosshairs over a fraud case against his companies in 2022.
The rebuke provides fresh embarrassment for Attorney General Pam Bondi, who Trump seemingly instructed to go after James in a controversial Truth Social post in September.
At issue is James’ purchase of a house in Norfolk, Virginia.
Last month, a judge threw out indictments against James and former FBI Director James Comey – another Trump political enemy – ruling that the prosecutor put in charge, the president’s former personal lawyer Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed.
The 36-year-old Halligan worked as a White House staffer earlier this year and has no previous experience as a prosecutor, yet she was appointed to serve as an interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
A second grand jury has refused to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, a week after a different grand jury refused to bring charges against the top Trump political foe
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie threw out both James and Comey’s cases over the mechanism the Trump administration used to appoint Halligan.
The Justice Department then tried again, trying to get a grand jury in Norfolk last week to re-indict James, an effort that failed, and then a second grand jury in Alexandria to do so as well.
James says the case is politically motivated and has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump wrote a Truth Social post in September addressed to Bondi that appeared to show he wanted the DOJ to go after political enemies.
‘Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,’ Trump wrote, referring to Comey, James and California Senator Adam Schiff.
James, a Democrat who infuriated Trump after his first term with a lawsuit alleging that he built his business empire on lies about his wealth, was initially charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a home purchase in 2020.
During the sale, she 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, prosecutors say James rented it out to a family of three, allowing her to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties.
The grand jury’s refusal to indict Letitia James provides fresh embarrassment to Attorney General Pam Bondi, who President Donald Trump pushed to prosecute his political enemies in a Truth Social post in September
The cases against James and Comey have heightened concerns that the Trump administration is using its law enforcement powers to pursue the president’s enemies.
Both cases were brought shortly after the administration installed Halligan, a former Trump lawyer with no prior prosecutorial experience, as U.S. attorney amid public calls from the president to take action against his political opponents.
Currie dismissed them without prejudice, allowing the Justice Department to try to file the charges again.
Halligan had been named as a replacement for Erik Siebert, a veteran prosecutor in the office and interim U.S. attorney who resigned in September amid Trump administration pressure to file charges against both Comey and James.
He stepped aside after Trump told reporters he wanted Siebert ‘out.’
James’ lawyers separately argued the case was a vindictive prosecution brought to punish the Trump critic who spent years investigating and suing the Republican president and won a staggering judgment in a lawsuit alleging he defrauded banks by overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements.
The fine was later tossed out by a higher court, but both sides are appealing.
After the Norfolk grand jury rejected a new indictment last week, James’ lawyer said, ‘This should be the end of the case.’
‘If they continue, undeterred by a court ruling and a grand jury´s rejection of the charges, it will be a shocking assault on the rule of law and a devastating blow to the integrity of our justice system,’ defense attorney Abbe Lowell said at the time.
Comey was separately charged with lying to Congress in 2020.
Another federal judge has complicated the Justice Department’s efforts to seek a new indictment against Comey, temporarily barring prosecutors from accessing computer files belonging to Daniel Richman, a close Comey friend and Columbia University law professor whom prosecutors see as a central player in any potential case against the former FBI director.
Prosecutors moved Tuesday to quash that order, calling Richman´s request for the return of his files a ‘strategic tool to obstruct the investigation and potential prosecution.’
They said the judge had overstepped her bounds by ordering Richman’s property returned to him and said the ruling had impeded their ability to proceed with a case against Comey.
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