For second time, grand jury not convinced to indict AG Letitia James
Mark Moran
Thu, December 11, 2025 at 11:06 PM UTC
2 min read
Dec. 11 (UPI) -- For the second time, a grand jury has declined to issue a new indictment against New York Attorney General Leticia James.
James, a political opponent of President Donald Trump, has been a frequent target of the president on social media. Trump has said multiple times that James should face legal jeopardy for alleged mortgage fraud.
The Justice Department presented its case against James in an Alexandria, Va., court on Thursday, a week after a different grand jury in Norfolk also declined to bring charges.
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A spokesperson for James declined comment on Thursday, according to CNN.
James has pleaded not guilty to one count of making false statements to a financial institution as well as a count of bank fraud.
Last month, a federal judge ruled that Trump's handpicked prosecutor in the criminal cases against James and former FBI Director James Comey, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed as interim U.S. attorney and, therefore, cases against James and Comey must be thrown out.
A former White House adviser, Halligan was selected for the job after the Justice Department pushed out the previous interim U.S. attorney following pressure to initiate cases against James and Comey.
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"All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan's defective appointments were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside," Judge Cameron McGowan ruled after Halligan was determined to have been wrongly appointed interim U.S. attorney.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday were unsuccessful in convincing a majority of grand jurors to agree with charges that James misled a bank in pursuit of favorable home mortgage loan terms.
"This unprecedented rejection makes even clearer that this case should never have seen the light of day," Abbe Lowell, an attorney for James said in a statement.
Prosecutors have said James falsely listed a home she bought in 2020 as a second home rather than an investment property in an attempt to save $19,000 over the course of the mortgage by securing a more favorable rate.
James previously brought a successful $354 million civil fraud case against Trump for falsely inflating his net worth in order to secure more favorable loan terms.