The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the Office of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), the state’s top prosecutor, who brought a successful civil fraud case against President Trump.
The probe by federal prosecutors, launched by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, issued two subpoenas this week, seeking information related to James’s case against the Trump Organization as well as another brought against the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Separately Friday, the Justice Department appointed Ed Martin to investigate a prior criminal referral made by the Federal Housing Finance Agency alleging James claimed a Virginia home was her primary residence to secure more favorable loan terms. Martin also appears to have been tapped for similar allegations made against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), multiple outlets reported Friday.
An attorney for James confirmed the inquiries, characterizing them as weaponization by the Department of Justice in going after a Trump adversary.
“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 carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign,” attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement.
“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,” Lowell added. “If prosecutors carry out this improper tactic and are genuinely interested in the truth, we are ready and waiting with the facts and the law.”
James scored a big victory in her civil suit against Trump, with a judge issuing a nearly half-billion-dollar penalty for the Trump Organization after determining the business overvalued its assets.
Several outlets also reported Friday that another subpoena was issued to James’s office related to a case she brought against the NRA, arguing it failed to properly administer its charitable organization. That judgment included $6.35 million in penalties for NRA leaders.
The Justice Department declined to comment. The Hill has reached out to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of New York for comment.
James, who was elected as New York’s attorney general in 2018, has long been the recipient of Trump’s ire. The state’s top prosecutor has long challenged the administration’s directives in court and successfully sued the president and his organization over what her office said was business fraud. A New York judge ordered Trump to pay nearly $355 million in penalties in early 2024. James’s office said that with interest, the figure would balloon to more than $450 million.
Beyond Friday’s subpoenas, the mortgage investigation led by Martin is one of the first cases for a man who was tapped to lead DOJ’s new Weaponization Working Group after he failed to be confirmed by the Senate as U.S. attorney for D.C.
The FHFA first made a criminal referral for James in April, raising claims about a Virginia home and another New York based property.
Lowell also dismissed that probe, noting that Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has also faced allegations he improperly claimed three homes as his primary residence to secure more favorable mortgage terms.
“The appointment of Ed Martin — so extreme he couldn’t even win enough support from his fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate to become an actual U.S. Attorney — makes it crystal clear this is a manufactured investigation to pursue political retribution,” he said in a statement.
“As we wrote to Attorney General Bondi, any objective inquiry would conclude Attorney General James violated no laws in managing her properties, but one must wonder why AG Bondi failed to include Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in her mandate. Will Mr. Martin also be pursuing the reports of mortgage fraud involving the AG Paxton, or will that somehow fall outside his definition of justice because he is not allowed to review the conduct of Republicans?”
Schiff’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment, but the senator previously dismissed the claims as misconstruing the fact that he owns two homes for work.
“The basis of his accusation is that I own a home in Maryland, and I own my home in California. Big surprise—members of Congress, almost all of them, own more than one home or rent more than one home because we’re required to be on both coasts,” Schiff said in a July video.
“So he is using my ownership of two homes to make a false claim of mortgage fraud. But what really is going on here is this is Donald Trump trying to bring about political retribution, retaliation,” he added, noting that the move came amid pressure on Trump to release the Epstein files.
Updated at 2:16 p.m. EDT
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