Trump’s DOJ has launched an investigation into mortgage fraud allegations against New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
The DOJ, led by Pam Bondi, is also in the opening stages of investigating the fraud case that AG James brought against Trump in 2023.
James notably brought a successful civil fraud case against President Trump and his companies. In February 2024, a clerk in New York officially entered a judgment against Trump and his companies of more than $464 million with an interest rate that tacks on $114,000 per day until the amount is paid.
Trump maintained that he had done nothing wrong and that the case was politically motivated by Democrats.
Bondi has tapped Ed Martin, a former interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., and conservative activist as a special attorney to investigate both James and Schiff.
Martin met Friday with the Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte. Pulte sent in a criminal referral on Schiff to the DOJ in May. Pulte also sent a criminal referral on James in April alleging that she made false statements on mortgage loan applications.
In July, Schiff lambasted the president’s claims after Trump had called for both officials to be prosecuted.
“This is the kind of stuff you see tinpot dictators do. It is designed to intimidate his political opponents and somehow try to silence them,” said Schiff.
The U.S. attorney probe of James is regarding whether her office abused its authority to trample Trump’s legal rights through civil lawsuits. They also plan to investigate whether the National Rifle Association’s rights were violated by the civil suits.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office issued a statement in response to an inquiry by NBC News saying, “Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American. We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers’ rights.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has not responded to requests for comment.
James’s office sued Trump over fraudulent misrepresentations of his wealth and financial statements in 2022. The $300 million judgment has since grown to over $500 million with interest. Trump is appealing.
James also sued the NRA and had initially asked that the group be dissolved, but a judge denied the request. Instead, James’s office won a civil fraud case against the organization and its leader, Wayne LaPierre, after a jury trial. He was convicted of funneling millions from the organization for his own lifestyle pleasures.
Abbe Lowell, James’s attorney, said that the case against his client is “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.”
It is yet unknown if the the DOJ has any evidence to buttress its claims against either James or Schiff.
