A career federal prosecutor in Virginia has told colleagues she does not believe there is probable cause to file criminal mortgage fraud charges against New York attorney general Letitia James, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, oversees major criminal cases in the Norfolk office for the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia and plans to soon present her conclusion to Lindsey Halligan, a Trump ally, who was installed as the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia last month. Yusi’s thinking was first reported by MSNBC on Monday.
The justice department declined to comment. The US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia did not return a request for comment.
The case sets up another high profile confrontation between the justice department and Trump, who has fired attorneys who have refused to punish his enemies. Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience, was put in the role at the urging of Trump after her predecessor concluded there wasn’t probable cause to file criminal charges against James Comey, the former FBI director. Halligan personally presented the case against Comey to a grand jury after she was appointed and secured a two-count indictment.
Trump has openly asked Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, to prosecute James, who led a civil fraud case against the president that led to a $500m fine, which was recently overturned by a New York state appellate court.
William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head and a staunch Trump ally, made a criminal referral of James to the justice department in April, alleging she may have committed mortgage fraud. Pulte pointed to mortgage documents related to a 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home James helped purchase for her niece in which James appeared to indicate on a document she intended to use the home as her primary residence. James was serving as the attorney general of New York at the time.
Prosecutors empaneled a grand jury in May to investigate, but struggled to build a case against James, despite pressure from Trump allies. Emails from the time of the home purchase and other mortgage documents show James clearly indicating that she did not intend for the home to be her primary residence. That evidence makes it difficult for prosecutors to prove that James knowingly lied on the mortgage documents.
Multiple prosecutors in the eastern district of Virginia have either been fired or resigned in recent weeks as Trump has increased pressure on the office to bring charges against Comey and James.
Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor, resigned on 19 September after facing pressure from Trump to file charges. Maya Song, a top Siebert deputy, was also fired in late September. Michael Ben’Ary, a top national security prosecutor in the office, was also fired last week after Julie Kelly, a pro-Trump media personality, falsely accused him of working on the Comey case.
“The leadership is more concerned with punishing the President’s perceived enemies than they are with protecting our national security,” he wrote in his farewell letter to colleagues.
“Justice for Americans killed and injured by our enemies should not be contingent on what someone in the Department of Justice sees in their social media feed that day.”
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
