Letitia James pleads not guilty in mortgage fraud case

by · UPI

Oct. 24 (UPI) -- New York Attorney General Letitia James pleaded not guilty Friday to her charges of lying on a mortgage application, a prosecution pushed by President Donald Trump.

James' arraignment was in Norfolk, Va., in her first court appearance since her indictment on Oct. 9. A grand jury in the U.S.District Court of Eastern Virginia indicted James on the criminal charges after the Justice Department alleged she falsely claimed a Norfolk, Va., property that she bought in 2020 would be her primary residence to get better mortgage terms.

U.S. District Judge Jamar Walker set a trial date for Jan. 26. Prosecutors said the trial will take about two weeks, and that they will call eight to 10 witnesses. But Walker said the trial should be three to five days.

James was released on her own recognizance after the arraignment. She is charged with one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution.

Related

After the hearing, James spoke outside the courthouse.

"I want to thank you for your support," James said. "But this is not about me. Yes, this is about all of us. Yeah. And about our justice system, which has been weaponized. Against a justice system, which has been a tool used as a tool of revenge."

"But my faith is strong. And my faith is, I have this belief in the justice system, in the rule of law," James said.

Walker set a Nov. 1 deadline for James to make her first filing of vindictive prosecution.

The indictment came a few weeks after Trump posted on Truth Social that Attorney General Pam Bondi should prosecute James, former FBI director James Comey and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Bondi also recently indicted former national security advisor John Bolton.

James is accused of lying about the purpose of a house purchase in Norfolk in 2020. She said on the mortgage application that it would be her primary home, but instead made it a rental. She allegedly rented it to a family of three. But her great-niece has lived in the home since 2020 and testified to a grand jury that she has never paid rent. James has only reported $1,350 in rent on her taxes.

Career federal prosecutors decided against prosecuting James, but Trump forced out Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney overseeing the office, and replaced him with Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide. Halligan brought the case against James and got the indictment.

Trump dislikes James because she filed a civil fraud lawsuit in 2022, accusing Trump of giving false property valuations and estimates of Trump's net worth in order to get beneficial loan rates and insurance deals he wouldn't otherwise have gotten. Trump lost the case and was ordered to pay $364 million. A judge later overturned the fine for being excessive.

Halligan made headlines on Tuesday for her messages to a reporter who wrote an article about the case in the New York Times. Halligan allegedly harassed reporter Anna Bower on Signal for 33 hours.

James' attorney, Abbe Lowell, asked the court to intervene and warn Halligan about making extra-judicial comments about the case.

"These extrajudicial statements and prejudicial disclosures by any prosecutor, let alone one purporting to be the U.S. attorney, run afoul of and violate the federal rules of criminal procedure, the code of federal regulations, this court's local rules, various rules of ethical and professional responsibility and [Department of Justice's] justice manual," Lowell wrote in a filing, The Times reported. He wanted the judge to warn Halligan "to prevent any further disclosures by government attorneys and agents of investigative and case materials, and statements to the media and public."

Walker told the prosecution to file their own written response to this request.