(The Center Square) — The Justice Department has failed again to secure a new indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James in the latest blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to prosecute the top Democrat and vocal critic.
A federal grand jury in Norfolk, Va., on Thursday declined to indict James after DOJ prosecutors reintroduced previously dismissed charges of mortgage fraud, multiple news outlets reported. It’s the second unsuccessful attempt by the DOJ to bring the top law enforcement official up on federal charges in a week.
In a statement, James’s attorney Abbe Lowell said the grand jury’s failure to indict a second time makes it “even clearer that this case should never have seen the light of day.”
“This case already has been a stain on this department’s reputation and raises troubling questions about its integrity,” Lowell said. “Any further attempt to revive these discredited charges would be a mockery of our system of justice.”
Under federal law, the U.S. attorney’s office in Eastern Virginia can re-present the charges to another grand jury if it chooses. The Justice Department didn’t comment on Thursday’s grand jury proceedings.
The grand jury’s second rejection comes after a federal judge dismissed an earlier indictment against James. In that case, Lindsey Halligan, the federal prosecutor handpicked by Trump to handle the case, was deemed unlawfully appointed.
James was indicted in October by a federal grand jury on one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution. She denies any wrongdoing and claims the charges are politically motivated.
Prosecutors allege that James falsely claimed on an application for a federally backed mortgage that she would be living in a Norfolk, Va., home she bought in 2020 as a secondary residence but allegedly used it as an investment property. That allowed James to receive a favorable interest rate, saving her nearly $19,000 over the life of the loan, prosecutors allege.
It wasn’t clear what new claims or evidence was submitted as part of the latest indictment, which remains sealed.
James, first elected in 2018, has been a frequent critic of Trump and has filed several multistate lawsuits against the Trump administration over federal immigration policies, rollbacks in federal funding, and worker layoffs and other actions.
That includes a civil fraud trial that ended in a $454 million judgment against Trump and his company, which was later overturned by a New York appeals court. James has appealed the ruling.
