Justice Department launches grand jury probe of Letitia James : NPR

New York Prosecutor General Letitia James speaks at a press conference on January 8. The Ministry of Justice opened an investigation into James’ office against his civil fraud case against President Trump.

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Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images

The US Ministry of Justice launched a federal investigation into the Grand Jury on the Prosecutor General of New York Letitia James, according to two familiar sources with the investigation which were not authorized to speak publicly.

James won a civil fraud case against President Trump and his businesses in 2023, which led to millions of dollars in penalties related to allegations of fraud.

The DoJ is looking for more information in James on the prosecution and seems to be under a theory that James may have deprived Trump and his adult children of their rights in the case, the sources said.

The MJ refused to comment.

Trump has chosen James several times for public criticisms going up when she launched the civil affair against him in 2022. He accused James – a black democrat – of acting with political motivations against him and described him as “racist”.

In a press release, a lawyer for James criticized the investigation, saying that the Ministry of Justice was armed against the president’s perceived political enemies.

“Investigating the Attorney General of Fraud James James against President Trump and his businesses must be the most blatant and desperate example of this administration putting the president’s political remuneration campaign,” said Abbe Lowell, lawyer for James. “Armament The Ministry of Justice to try to punish an elected official for having done her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation of this administration.”

Two sources have told NPR that the criminal investigation into James is led by the main federal prosecutor in Albany. The office is currently led by John A. Sarcone III, Trump candidate for the American lawyer for the Northern New York District. Sarcone – who worked for Trump’s electoral law team in 2016 – remained the main federal prosecutor in the region despite a panel of federal judges refusing his permanent appointment last month.

A second investigation against James

The Ministry of Justice is also investigating James for alleged mortgage fraud. This investigation is helped by Ed Martin, who is the head of the working -class working group at the Ministry of Justice, as well as by the agency’s prosecutor.

A separate source confirmed at NPR that Martin was appointed special prosecutor in the mortgage investigation against James, as well as in an investigation against Senator Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Schiff is an eminent critic of President Trump who played a key role in Trump’s first indictment.

Preet Bharara, the former American prosecutor of the South New York district now representing Schiff, called allegations against the Californian democrat “in a transparent, reassures and long demystified manner”.

“Mr. Martin is a lawyer defending on January 6, who continued with the foundation and politically motivated to respond to requests to investigate and pursue the enemies perceived. Any investigation carried out by him would be the very definition of the armament of the justice process,” said Bharara in a statement.

The James Affair finally led to the New York Arthur Engoron judge Find Trump responsible for fraud in the fall of 2023, after having determined that he had artificially inflated the value of his real estate assets during his time as an eminent developer in order to obtain more favorable loans and interest rates. Trump appealed the decision.

On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump regularly pleaded for a reprisal action against several individuals whom he described as enemies, including James and Schiff, arguing that their investigations against him were hunts with witches led by Democrats.

During a rally at Sioux Center in Iowa last year, Trump told supporters that James “should be arrested and punished accordingly.”

Schiff also faced Trump attacks dating from the president’s first dismissal. In an interview with Fox News last October, Trump described California’s legislator as “an interior enemy”.

“This is a threat to democracy,” he said. “They are bad people.”