A grand jury in Virginia indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday, marking the second Trump foe to face federal prosecution in recent weeks.
James was charged with one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution. The indictment alleges that James bought a house in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020 with a mortgage that required her to use it as a second home, but she ultimately rented it to a family and used it as an investment property. It accuses her of misrepresenting how the house was used to get a more favorable interest rate.
Lindsey Halligan, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement: "No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public's trust."
James called the charges "baseless" in a video statement.
"This is nothing more than a continuation of the president's desperate weaponization of our justice system," she said.