A former prosecutor with the New York attorney general’s office says Letitia James is trying to intimidate him after he exposed what he describes as a campaign to target President Trump. He also says he will not destroy documents he considers evidence of alleged wrongdoing.
Daniel Wiesenfeld, who served in James’ Investor Protection Bureau before being dismissed last month, told his former employer Monday that he would not surrender “confidential and privileged” materials, according to an email obtained by the Times-Union.
The sharply worded message included a photograph of a business card belonging to a detective with the attorney general’s Executive Protection Detail. Wiesenfeld said the card had been left wedged in his front door, the newspaper reported.
“I am in receipt of your September 18th letter threatening me with ‘professional discipline, as well as civil and/or criminal action’ and your subsequent September 30th letter providing a deadline by 5pm today for me to confirm my destruction of your ‘confidential and/or privileged information’,” Wiesenfeld wrote Monday.
“You have also commissioned your ‘protection detail’ detectives to repeatedly hound me by banging on my front door. Attached is the business card one of them left in my door after their latest intrusion,” he wrote. The email was also sent to Kumiki Gibson, general counsel for the attorney general’s office.
Wiesenfeld said he believed James was “fearful” of how he might use the materials ahead of this year’s election, in which she is a candidate. Still, he insisted that the threats would not force him to back down.
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“These documents are simply evidence and your threats will not compel me to destroy such evidence,” he wrote. “If anything, carrying out your threats by bringing this to a legal forum will make this information public.”
The latest exchange follows an agency-wide email Wiesenfeld sent months earlier. In that message, he alleged that a supervisor had directed him to identify and pursue crimes involving people connected to Trump, a longtime political adversary of James.
“If you believe Trump is using the [Department of Justice] attorneys to prosecute his enemies and further his political interests, you should find it equally troubling that Tish [James] is doing exactly the same thing,” Wiesenfeld reportedly wrote. The email was sent to roughly 2,000 employees before being removed.
According to the Times-Union, Wiesenfeld was placed on administrative leave and terminated on Sept. 5.
A spokesperson for James characterized the dispute as “a personnel matter” in a statement issued in August.
“The office of the attorney general is committed to upholding New York’s laws and protecting the rights and freedoms of all New Yorkers, regardless of political beliefs,” the statement said. “We strongly reject any assertion to the contrary.”
