New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) pleaded not guilty in a mortgage fraud case brought weeks after President Trump pressured his Justice Department to prosecute his most prominent political foes.
The New York Times reported James said to the court, “Not guilty, judge, to both counts,” when asked how she wished to plead.
James appeared Friday morning before U.S. District Judge Jamar Walker, an appointee of former President Biden, for her arraignment in federal court in Norfolk, Va.
She faces counts of bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution over allegations she misrepresented her plans for a Virginia home, allowing her to obtain favorable loan terms.
The indictment says James falsely claimed in mortgage documents that she would use a home she purchased in Norfolk, Va., in 2020, as a secondary residence, but instead, rented it to a family of three. The alleged misrepresentation resulted in better terms that saved her nearly $19,000, it says.
The allegations against James originated with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), whose director, Bill Pulte, filed a criminal referral against her in April. He has filed similar complaints against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook.
James made an enemy of Trump by taking on his business empire for civil fraud.
She won a nearly half-billion-dollar judgment against the president and his companies last year after a New York judge found Trump and other defendants inflated his net worth for tax and insurance benefits.
But an appeals court wiped the penalty in August, despite otherwise keeping the case intact. Both Trump and James’s office have appealed.
After she was charged, James said she stands “strongly” behind her case against Trump’s empire, which she described as based on “the facts and evidence — not politics.” The same cannot be said of the Justice Department’s case against her, she claimed.
“These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,” the top New York prosecutor said.
Only weeks before James was indicted, Trump wrote directly to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Truth Social and urged her to move more quickly to prosecute his political adversaries, including James, Schiff and former FBI director James Comey.
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump said on Sept. 20. “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
It was later reported that the post was intended to be a direct message.
Comey was charged five days later over 2020 congressional testimony about the bureau’s investigation into Russian ties to Trump’s 2016 campaign. He pleaded not guilty to counts of false statements to Congress and obstruction of a congressional proceeding on Oct. 8, a day before James was indicted.
Both cases were brought by Lindsey Halligan, a former White House aide Trump handpicked to serve as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after the previous top prosecutor, Erik Siebert, resigned amid pressure to indict Trump’s foes.
Halligan recently came under scrutiny for texting a legal journalist about the reporter’s tweets regarding a New York Times report detailing apparent grand jury testimony.
Comey has moved to dismiss his charges on the basis that Halligan was unlawfully appointed, in addition to alleging he’s a target of selective and vindictive prosecution at Trump’s behest.
Schiff is reportedly under federal investigation in Maryland for mortgage fraud, as well, after Pulte submitted a criminal referral claiming he designated properties both there and in California as “principal” residences. He has denied wrongdoing.
