Criminal case against Letitia James is a 'garden variety mortgage fraud prosecution,' DOJ argues
The criminal case against New York Attorney General Letitia James is nothing more than a "garden variety mortgage fraud prosecution," federal prosecutors told a judge in support of their case Friday.
Government attorneys urged the federal judge overseeing the case to allow the prosecution to go forward, after lawyers for James called for its dismissal by arguing that the case was only brought to punish one of President Donald Trump's fiercest critics.
Trump's handpicked U.S. attorney, Lindsey Halligan, brought the case against James just weeks after Trump called for criminal charges against his political foes, despite concerns about the case from career prosecutors in Halligan's office.
"Federal courts must not allow defendants to escape a facially valid indictment supported by evidence because of public disputes between elected officials," prosecutors wrote in Friday's court filing.
Pushing back on claims of a vindictive prosecution, prosecutors acknowledged that Trump's public remarks about James -- including statements that "she's very guilty" -- ranged from "disdain to deference," but argued that the decision to seek an indictment was Halligan's alone.
"The remarks of presidents and state attorneys general are important, but they do not have any bearing on the evidence on which the United States and the grand jury have relied in proceeding with indictment," prosecutors wrote of James, who successfully brought a civil fraud case against Trump last year and leads multiple lawsuits challenging his administration's policies.
Prosecutors also sought to distance the case from Ed Martin, the administration's special attorney for mortgage, who, months before the indictment, posed for a newspaper photoshoot outside James' home and called on her to resign. The attorneys argued that Martin's highly unusual target letter "discloses the government's perspective on how Defendant can timely accept responsibility and demonstrate respect for the law," and does not demonstrate vindictiveness.
"Defendant makes much of the involvement of Ed Martin. Martin is not the United States Attorney, he did not sign the Indictment, and he was not the decision-maker in this process," the filing said.
James pleaded not guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution after prosecutors said she falsely described a property she purchased in Norfolk, Virginia, as a second home instead of an investment property in order to obtain a lower mortgage rate. James said she purchased the property in 2020 for her great-niece and allowed her and her children to live in the house rent-free.
Prosecutors argued in Friday's filing that, rather than a highly politized prosecution brought to punish one of Trump's most prominent critics, the case is a "garden variety mortgage fraud prosecution."
The filing included what prosecutors say is a 2024 text message from James that they argue demonstrates she knew what she was doing was wrong.
"I do not want to take deduction," the message says. "It looks suspicious and I need to do everything according to the tax code."
