New York State Attorney General Letitia James isn’t flinching amid a criminal referral letter recently sent to the U.S. Department of Justice over claims about her personal real estate properties.
“The allegations are baseless,” James told Spectrum News NY1. “The allegations are nothing more than a revenge tour.”
James pointed to her successful prosecution of President Donald Trump for financial fraud, which concluded that, as a real estate mogul, Trump inflated the value of his assets to secure better bank loans. The attorney general said the case remains pending on appeal and that Trump’s $454 million penalty judgment continues to accrue interest.
“It’s important that individuals know that this is nothing more than the continuation of the tour,” said James, pointing out that, since returning to the White House, Trump has gone after “law firms, universities, immigrants, women” and “thousands of federal employees” are now unemployed after being terminated by the Trump administration. She added, “Our government is in chaos and in disarray.”
As theGrio previously reported, in a letter dated April 14, Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, told the Department of Justice that James “appeared to have falsified records” related to properties she owns in Virginia and New York in an alleged effort to receive favorable loan terms, according to the New York Times. James has not been charged with a crime.
At the center of the claims made in the letter, James is accused of potential mortgage fraud after allegedly signing notarized paperwork that declared a purchased Virginia residence as her principal residence. Trump’s allies, including his former political advisor Roger Stone, have suggested that James may have committed mortgage fraud or may even be ineligible to hold New York office as a result of the paperwork, which was published by the blog White Collar Crime.
The letter from FHFA also refers to a Brooklyn property that James has owned for more than 20 years, accusing her of misrepresenting the number of units in the home in order to receive better interest rates.
The New York Times reports that James’ paperwork related to her Norfolk, Va., property may not result in any criminal prosecution due to a loan application form provided by James’ office showing that the attorney general indicated that she did not intend to occupy the home as a primary residence. The outlet said her mortgage agreement did not require her to do so.
James and Trump have clashed repeatedly in both the courtroom and the public square over several years. The New York attorney general’s office is currently battling the Trump administration over several executive orders signed by the president since taking office on Jan. 20.
“Each and every day, my office is leading the fight against these executive orders, which have no legal import at all, have no legal significance, and we are standing up for the rights and privileges of New Yorkers and Americans,” James told Spectrum News. “I will not be silenced. I will not be bullied. I will not bend. I will not break, and I will not bow to anyone.”
Democratic strategist Reecie Colbert said she isn’t surprised that the Trump administration has targeted James, telling theGrio, “Kamala Harris said it best. She had a to-do list. He has a revenge list.”
“He promised retribution. He has the capacity to do that. And I think that it’s going to be a hellish several years,” said Colbert, who is the host of Sirius XM’s “The Reecie Colbert Show.” She said that while James is “tough” and “talented” and has “beat Trump every time she’s gone up against him,” it doesn’t make it “any less harmful and abusive that they’re going after her.”
Colbert said Democrats, particularly Black women leaders like James, “recognize that there’s no amount of capitulation that they could do that would satisfy” Trump and his allies.
“So, in light of that, then what do you do? You continue to forge ahead in righteousness, and they’re making sure that they hold them accountable to the best that they can,” she added. “Of course, there are threats, and it’s not OK that there are threats, but they’re going to be undeterred.”
