Senior Trump administration officials are now reportedly pressing federal prosecutors to bring criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, accusing her of mortgage fraud in connection with a Virginia property.
President Donald J. Trump has personally leaned on Justice Department leadership to advance the case, underscoring his long-standing view of James as a political adversary.
According to a report, the Department of Justice’s internal discussions have centered on whether James knowingly misrepresented her residency status to secure more favorable mortgage terms.
James has been accused of falsely listing her Virginia home as her primary residence in 2023, despite being required under New York law to reside in the state while serving as its attorney general.
Ed Martin, who leads the DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group, and Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, are among the officials urging the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to pursue the case.
They argue that James made “false statements to a financial institution” in order to benefit financially.
While a five-month federal inquiry has yet to produce what investigators have described as “clear evidence” of fraud, the matter remains under scrutiny.
A formal FBI criminal investigation was announced in May, with U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III pledging to proceed if prosecutors determine a charge is warranted. “We stand prepared to act in the capacity that we need to when and if we are informed there’s a charge to be made,” Sarcone said at the time. “Unlike Letitia James, who unethically ran around the state campaigning on getting Donald Trump… my office conducts itself in a manner that is proper and professional.”
The controversy marks a dramatic turn in a feud that has defined James’s national profile. In 2024, she brought a high-profile civil case against Mr. Trump, resulting in a judge ordering the president to pay $354 million for allegedly inflating his wealth on financial statements — a penalty that ballooned to $515 million with interest. But in August, a New York appeals court overturned the judgment, declaring the amount “excessive.”
Mr. Trump has seized on the current investigation to portray James as politically motivated and corrupt. On Truth Social and at rallies, he has derided her as a “wacky crook” and “totally corrupt,” charging that her pursuit of him was rooted in politics rather than law.
James’s legal team has dismissed the mortgage allegations as baseless. “Given the cascade of unsubstantiated allegations coming from the Trump Administration on its ‘mortgage fraud’ crusade against Democrats, it’s no surprise they are having trouble finding an objective and law-abiding prosecutor who would ignore the facts and the evidence to manufacture sham charges,” said Abbe Lowell, her attorney. “As we have repeatedly said, any impartial and non-political inquiry would conclude Attorney General James did not violate any laws managing her properties.”
Lowell’s remark alluded to other Democrats facing similar scrutiny. Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and Senator Adam B. Schiff of California have also been accused by Mr. Trump of mortgage fraud, allegations that critics have dismissed as politically motivated.
For Mr. Trump and his allies, however, the stakes are clear: they see the potential prosecution of Letitia James not only as accountability for alleged misconduct but as a counterweight to years of partisan legal warfare.
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