A top prosecutor will thwart President Donald Trump’s wishes, telling colleagues she won’t pursue charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Elizabeth Yusi, a prosecutor from the Eastern District of Virginia, has said she sees no probable cause in a mortgage fraud investigation against James – long a Trump political target.
Yusi plans to deliver that news to the president’s new acting US attorney, Lindsey Halligan, in the coming weeks, MSNBC reported Monday.
Sources told the network they are now bracing for Yusi to be fired – and for other officials who won’t go along with a prosecution of James to be axed.
In April, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Trump ally Bill Pulte, sent a letter to the DOJ, alleging that James had committed mortgage fraud by claiming that a Norfolk, Virginia home where her niece resides was her primary residence, to secure a lower mortgage rate.
Pulte made similar allegations against California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, long a thorn in the president’s side, and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, whom Trump is trying to remove.
James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, said that while a power-of-attorney form had mistakenly listed the Virginia home as the New York attorney general’s primary residence, James had checked ‘no’ on the loan form.
Lowell said that James also sent a letter to her mortgage broker to clarify that the house ‘WILL NOT be my primary residence,’ MSNBC said.
Lindsey Halligan, who Trump appointed as acting US attorney to pursue cases against his political enemies, at the US Open earlier this year
A Virginia prosecutor plans to say that she won’t pursue mortgage fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James (left), thwarting the wishes of President Donald Trump (right)
But Trump has maintained that James ‘is very guilty of something,’ saying so in a mid-September Q&A session in the Oval Office with reporters.
In the same back-and-forth, he expressed his displeasure with US Attorney Erik Sieber, as the probe falls under his jurisdiction, after he was unable to find incriminating evidence against James in a mortgage fraud case.
‘I want him out,’ Trump said.
In turn, Sieber resigned.
He was replaced by Halligan, a former White House aide who previously served as the president’s defense attorney.
Halligan had no prior prosecutorial experience.
But just days after she took over in the Eastern District, Halligan was able to get another one of Trump’s political nemeses – former FBI Director James Comey – indicted on charges that the former federal official lied to Congress.
Siebert and others in his office had declined to charge Comey, viewing the evidence as too weak.
James led the New York fraud case against the president and his businesses, which resulted in a $500 million penalty, which James is still appealing after an appeals court found the fine to be excessive.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump consistently complained about the weaponization of the Justice Department, pointing to his federal indictments over attempts to overturn the 2020 election and storage of classified materials after leaving office.
Trump critics have pointed out that the president appears to be doing just that, blatantly targeting his political enemies for prosecution.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
