DOJ struggles to build mortgage fraud case against Trump adversary Letitia James, sources tell CNN
By Kristen Holmes, Hannah Rabinowitz, Kara Scannell, CNN
(CNN) — Justice Department prosecutors in Virginia believe they have not gathered enough evidence to indict Letitia James, the New York Attorney General and long term adversary of President Donald Trump, for mortgage fraud, according to a source familiar with the matter and another person briefed on the matter.
The five-month investigation has featured interviews with dozens of witnesses, the source said, cautioning that the investigation is still ongoing.
The US Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia declined to comment.
Trump has urged DOJ officials to investigate James aggressively. The president has privately and angrily complained about James even months into taking office, multiple sources familiar with the conversations told CNN.
ABC News first reported this story.
If James were to be indicted, it would mark a major escalation by the Justice Department in its promised efforts to bring cases against those who investigated Trump between his two terms as president. James won a civil case last year against the Trump Organization and the president himself over allegations of faulty business practices. A New York appeals court panel upheld the finding that Trump is liable for fraud but threw out the nearly half-billion dollar penalty finding it excessive. The decision is being appealed
Since May, prosecutors have been probing whether James knowingly made false statements on a loan application by indicating a property in Virginia is her primary residence.
But other document collected in the case provided by James’ attorneys to the Justice Department and reviewed by CNN show James repeatedly stating the opposite. In one email to a mortgage broker, James wrote that “this property WILL NOT be my primary residence.” And on other forms that asked whether the home would be her primary residence, James checked off “NO.”
Nonetheless, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia has faced pressure to indict James from Ed Martin, the head of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, and Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, two sources tell CNN.
Martin and Pulte have also accused Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook of mortgage fraud (both have denied those allegations).
Martin did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
In a statement to CNN, James’ attorney Abbe Lowell slammed the administration’s “revenge tour,” saying that “it’s no surprise they are having trouble finding an objective and law-abiding prosecutor who would ignore the facts and the evidence to manufacture sham charges.”
A grand jury investigation into accusations against James has also convened in Albany, New York, CNN previously reported. That probe is said to be looking into deprivation of rights, which means violating someone’s constitutional rights, against Trump.
Martin also overseeing an investigation involving a property James owns in New York. He personally visited the property last month and posed for photos outside of it.
Martin told Fox News he needed to “lay eyes” on it.
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