New York Attorney General Letitia James, who ran her initial campaign on a pledge to do all she could to imprison Donald Trump, recently found herself facing the same charges of fraud for which she secured a conviction against the then-2024 GOP presidential nominee. And now, after the Trump administration referred her to the Justice Department over mortgage fraud allegations, she’s indicated she’s taking them seriously, hiring legal counsel we all should be familiar with.
Her office confirmed it hired Abe Lowell, a white-collar defense and trial attorney who recently represented Hunter Biden in his weapons case. Lowell’s roster of high-profile clients spans both parties and includes former Sen. Bob Menendez, Bill Clinton, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner. In a six-page letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Thursday, Lowell accused President Donald J. Trump of weaponizing the Justice Department to pursue “political retribution” against James in the questionable civil fraud suit she brought against him and the Trump Organization.
James is accused of designating a Virginia property she bought in 2023 as her “principal residence” even though she was serving as New York’s attorney general at the time. New York law mandates that attorneys general live in the state for five years before running and maintain residency throughout their term, the New York Post reported. She also listed her father on the deed as her “husband,” a blatant misrepresentation. A power-of-attorney document for the Virginia purchase reviewed by the outlet was signed by James and seems to confirm Federal Housing and Finance Administration Director William Pulte’s allegation. The document states, “I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence.”
The letter further revealed that James previously purchased a Brooklyn home in 2001, but has “consistently misrepresented the same property as only having four units in both building permit applications and numerous mortgage documents and applications,” Pulte noted. This might have allowed James to obtain a lower mortgage rate, resulting in reduced payments under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
In his letter to Bondi, Lowell laughingly accused the Trump administration of targeting James and disputed the validity of the records in question. “The stunning hypocrisy of President Trump’s complaint that the Justice Department had been ‘politicized’ and ‘weaponized’ against him is laid bare as he and others in his administration are now asking you to undertake the very same practice,” Lowell wrote. “This so-called ‘criminal referral,’ which recycles long-disproven allegations and is ‘(b)ased on media reports’ lacks any credible foundation.”
