New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference on Jan. 8. The Justice Department has opened an investigation into James’ office over its civil fraud case against President Trump.
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The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a federal grand jury investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to two sources familiar with the investigation who weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
James won a civil fraud case against President Trump and his companies in 2023, resulting in millions of dollars in penalties linked to fraud allegations.
The DOJ is seeking more information from James about the suit, and appears to be operating under a theory that James may have deprived Trump and his adult children of their rights as part of that case, the sources said.
The DOJ declined to comment.
Trump has repeatedly singled out James for public criticism dating back to when she first launched the civil case against him in 2022. He has accused James — a Democrat who is Black — of acting with political motivations against him and referred to her as “racist.”
In a statement, an attorney for James criticized the investigation, saying the Justice Department was being weaponized against the president’s perceived political enemies.
“Investigating the fraud case Attorney General James won against President Trump and his businesses has to be the most blatant and desperate example of this administration’s carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign,” said Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for James. “Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration.”
Two sources told NPR the criminal probe into James is being led by the top federal prosecutor in Albany. The office is currently led by John A. Sarcone III, Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York. Sarcone — who worked for Trump’s election law team in 2016 — has remained the region’s top federal prosecutor despite a panel of federal judges declining his permanent appointment last month.
A second investigation against James
The Justice Department is also investigating James for alleged mortgage fraud. That investigation is being helped by Ed Martin, who serves as head of the Weaponization Working Group at the Department of Justice, as well as the agency’s pardon attorney.
A separate source confirmed to NPR that Martin has been named a special prosecutor in the mortgage probe against James, as well as in a probe against Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Schiff is a prominent critic of President Trump who played a key role in Trump’s first impeachment.
James’ case ultimately resulted in New York Judge Arthur Engoron finding Trump liable for fraud in the fall of 2023, after determining he had artificially inflated the value of his real estate holdings during his time as a prominent developer in order to secure more favorable loans and interest rates. Trump has appealed the ruling.
On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump regularly advocated for retaliatory action against several individuals he labeled as enemies, including James and Schiff, arguing that their investigations against him were Democratic-led witch hunts.
During a rally in Sioux Center, Iowa, last year, Trump told supporters that James “should be arrested and punished accordingly.”
Schiff has also faced attacks from Trump dating back to the president’s first impeachment. In an interview with Fox News last October, Trump referred to the California lawmaker as “an enemy from within.”
“That is a threat to democracy,” he said. “These are bad people.”
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