The Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, Fox News has learned while, in a separate development, The Washington Post reported that a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia has issued subpoenas connected to allegations that James falsely claimed a single-family home in Virginia as her primary residence to secure more favorable loan terms.
News of the federal investigation comes after a criminal referral by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, appointed under the Trump administration. Pulte urged the Department of Justice to investigate Letitia James for allegedly misrepresenting a single-family Virginia home as her primary residence to secure more favorable loan terms. He also cited a separate incident in which James is accused of underreporting the number of livable units in a multifamily property in Brooklyn—again, to obtain improved loan conditions.
“These baseless and long-discredited allegations, put to rest by my April 24 letter to the Department of Justice, are suddenly back in the news just days after President Trump publicly attacked Attorney General James,” James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, said Thursday. “This appears to be the political retribution President Trump threatened to exact that AG Bondi assured the Senate would not occur on her watch. If prosecutors are genuinely interested in the truth, we are prepared to meet false claims with facts.”
Of course, James ran on finding something on which to prosecute Trump, which happened: In a trial many legal experts called one of the biggest shams they’d seen in their entire careers, Trump was convicted of the same crime — real estate fraud — and ordered to pay $454 million in restitution, an amount that continues to compound with interest. Also, Trump did not initiate this probe, it was launched on a recommendation from Pulte.
Pulte also alleged that James “falsified” records connected to her 2001 purchase of a Brooklyn brownstone, reportedly understating the number of units in the building—an apparent effort to avoid compliance with regulations requiring the installation of fire alarms and other safety measures. The FBI is also reportedly investigating the allegations.
