James’ office has not issued a statement today. Her attorneys have staunchly refuted the allegations and describe the investigation as politically motivated revenge.
The indictment, arriving two weeks after separate charges against former FBI Director James Comey for lying to Congress, signals the Trump administration’s willingness to use Justice Department resources to target political adversaries and high-profile figures who previously investigated Trump.
The James case remained under seal today, making it impossible to assess what evidence prosecutors have.
But as was the case with the Comey charges, the prosecution followed a strikingly unconventional route.
Recently, the Trump administration dismissed Erik Siebert, the experienced prosecutor who led the investigation but was reluctant to file charges, and installed Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide and former personal attorney to Trump, who lacks experience as a federal prosecutor, in his place.
Halligan personally presented the case to the grand jury, as she did in Comey’s case, according to sources acquainted with the proceedings.
“No one is above the law. The charges alleged in this case depict intentional criminal conduct and significant breaches of public trust,” Halligan stated.
“The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”
Trump has repeatedly called for James’ prosecution, posting on social media without offering evidence that she’s “guilty as hell” and remarking to reporters that she appears “genuinely guilty of something, but I can’t say what.”
Her lawyer has accused the Justice Department of concocting a bogus criminal case to settle Trump’s personal vendetta against James, who last year won a staggering judgement against Trump and his companies in a lawsuit alleging he lied to banks and others about the value of his assets.
The Justice Department has also been investigating mortgage-related allegations against Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook, using the probe to demand her ouster, and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, whose lawyer called the allegations against him “transparently false, stale, and long debunked”.
But James is a particularly personal target.
As attorney general, she sued the Republican president and his administration dozens of times and oversaw a lawsuit accusing him of defrauding banks by dramatically overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements.
An appeals court overturned the fine, which had ballooned to more than $750 million with interest, but upheld a lower court’s finding that Trump had committed fraud.
The Justice Department probe began after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte sent a letter in April to Attorney General Pam Bondi, asking her to investigate James over her role in the 2023 purchase of a house in Norfolk, Virginia.
In seeking the investigation, Pulte cited a two-page power-of-attorney form that James signed on August 17, 2023, which states, “I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence.”
He speculated that claiming the house as her primary residence might have allowed James to avoid higher interest rates that often apply to second homes.
James’ lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said the Democrat never misled anyone.
James has said that she made an error while filling out a form related to the home purchase, but quickly rectified it and didn’t deceive the lender.
