Trump's DOJ Charges AG Letitia James With Bank Fraud

Letitia James press conference — Source: Albany Times Union/Hearst Newspapers / Getty

Welp, it happened, y’all — our petty, vindictive, sore loser and sore winner of a president has used the power of his position to seek revenge against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

After President Donald Trump put public pressure on his own attorney general, Pam Bondi, to charge James and several of his other political rivals with crimes he had not specified, the Justice Department, on Thursday, criminally indicted James after convening a federal grand jury in Virginia — and now the nation is supposed to pretend this isn’t all happening because James previously beat the 34-time felon in civil court, multiple times, actually.

According to NBC News, James was charged with one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution after federal prosecutors alleged that she falsely claimed that a home in Norfolk, Virginia, was her second residence, which would allow her to obtain favorable loan terms. However, the government claims she was actually renting the property out to a family of three.

The very charge itself makes it clear that Trump’s loyal minions scoured any and all public records related to James until they found something to charge her with, and they found a grand jury in the red state of Virginia to go along with it. It is a serious charge, though, carrying a penalty of up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

In August, Bondi appointed a “special attorney” to probe mortgage fraud allegations against James, which were first brought up by Republican Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who had made the same allegations against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, another Black woman whom Trump tried to fire over the unproven accusation, until a federal judge put a stop to it last moth.

As for James, previous officials had decided the case against the New York AG lacked sufficient evidence, so Trump did what he usually does when he doesn’t get his way: he started firing people and searching for more loyal, lesser-qualified officials who would capitulate to him.

From NBC:

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte had referred the case to the Justice Department, alleging that James had made false statements on mortgage loan applications. But the case hit a standstill last month because federal agents and prosecutors didn’t believe they had the evidence to secure a conviction, two senior federal law enforcement officials told NBC News last month.

Erik S. Siebert, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, resigned under pressure last month after Trump said he wanted him “out.”

Trump then named one of his personal attorneys, Lindsey Halligan, to be acting U.S. attorney, though she lacked any prosecutorial experience.

Halligan said in a statement after James was indicted that the “charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust.”

“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 in a statement that she read aloud in a recorded video. “The president’s actions are a grave violation of our Constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties.”

James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, also released a statement, saying the case “is driven by President Trump’s desire for revenge.”

“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,” Lowell said. “We will fight these charges in every process allowed in the law.”

It’s wild, ain’t it? Last year, James brought a successful civil fraud case against Trump, and even though an appeals court tossed the $527 million civil penalty against him in August, the president still hasn’t gotten over it, and now he has upped the ante by charging her criminally.

America elected a 79-year-old child to the highest office in the land, and now that man-baby is using virtually the entire federal government as a weapon.

But Letitia James is a fighter, and a smart, capable Black woman — which Trump and the rest of the MAGA world have already proven they can’t abide by.

Hopefully, justice will prevail.

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Weaponized DOJ Charges NY AG Letitia James With Bank Fraud As Part Of Trump’s Revenge Rampage was originally published on newsone.com