Federal prosecutors failed Thursday in their attempt to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, a setback for the Trump administration’s effort to revive a mortgage fraud case that was tossed less than two weeks ago after a judge found the original prosecutor had been unlawfully installed.
A Norfolk, Virginia, grand jury declined to return charges after hearing the case under a new team of prosecutors, a person familiar with the matter told several news outlets. The Department of Justice had hoped a fresh presentation, free from the procedural defects that sank the earlier indictment, would put the case back on track.
James, who has denied wrongdoing, was previously charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. That indictment evaporated on Nov. 24 when U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan lacked lawful authority to prosecute anyone in federal court. Halligan, a former Trump personal attorney with no prosecutorial background, had presented the original case to a grand jury entirely on her own.
The DOJ initially said it would appeal Currie’s ruling, and it still could, though the department decided to try again with a new charging presentation. Thursday’s failure does not prevent prosecutors from making another attempt.
The faltering case against James has become one of the government’s most politically fraught prosecutions. She is one of Trump’s most visible critics, having spearheaded the civil fraud lawsuit that resulted in a sweeping judgment against Trump and his business empire before it was later cut back by a state appeals court. Trump has repeatedly demanded her prosecution, both publicly and in private communications with Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Halligan’s appointment came in September, one day after Trump forced out his first pick for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, who resisted pressure to indict James and former FBI Director James Comey.
The same legal flaw that doomed James’s case also wiped out Comey’s indictment, which accused him of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation. Prosecutors are still debating whether to make another run at indicting him.
DOJ WEIGHING POSSIBLE NEW INDICTMENTS FOR COMEY AND JAMES
In a Truth Social post that officials later clarified the president intended as a direct message to Bondi, Trump urged her to push forward with charges against Comey, James, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), complaining that “nothing is going to be done” unless the DOJ acted quickly.
The Washington Examiner contacted the DOJ and an attorney for James for response.
