New York Attorney Genera,l Letitia James pleaded not guilty Friday, October 24, to a mortgage fraud indictment secured by a Donald Trump loyalist after the US president publicly demanded James and other political opponents be charged.
The administration installed Lindsey Halligan, a former Trump personal lawyer with no prior prosecutorial experience, to lead the Eastern District of Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office. Halligan brought the case after career prosecutors objected to charging James and former FBI Director James Comey, who likewise pleaded not guilty earlier to an indictment pending against him in the same Virginia district.
The prosecutions face multiple legal challenges, including the looming question in several cases brought by the Trump Justice Department of whether they are unconstitutionally vindictive or selective. It comes a year after Letitia’s office secured a fraud convictions against Trump while he was a presidental candidate.
Comey has already lodged a challenge to the legality of Halligan’s interim appointment, and James has signaled she will do the same.
The indictment against James, who previously brought the New York state civil fraud case against Trump, alleges that she committed bank fraud and made false statements to a financial institution in connection with a mortgage she obtained on a Virginia home.
The indictment alleges she obtained “total ill-gotten gains of approximately $18,933 over the life of the loan.” When the indictment was released earlier this month, James called the charges “baseless” and stated that Trump’s “own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost.”
In addition to signaling a challenge to Halligan’s interim appointment, James also filed a motion to enforce rules against the government’s extrajudicial disclosures and statements. Among other things, the motion highlighted a “stunning disclosure of internal government information,” citing a media report that detailed a digital messaging exchange between James’ team and Halligan.
James’ lawyers wrote that in initiating the contact, Ms. Halligan, the lead prosecutor commented on the credibility and general strength of the evidence presented to the grand jury.
The lawyers argued that such statements “by any prosecutor, let alone one purporting to be the U.S. Attorney, run afoul of and violate the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Code of Federal Regulations, this Court’s Local Rules, various rules of ethical and professional responsibility, and DOJ’s Justice Manual.”
In the civil fraud case James secured against Trump, which apparently prompted the president’s desire for revenge, a massive financial penalty was issued last year. However, an intermediate state appellate panel upended the ruling this summer in a mixed decision that both sides said they will appeal to the state’s top court.
