A federal judge dismissed the DOJ’s previous indictment against her after finding that the prosecutor who brought the charges was invalidly appointed.
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Dec. 4 responded to media reports citing anonymous sources that a federal grand jury failed to re-indict her.
She described in a statement the Justice Department’s second attempt to bring charges against her as an “unchecked weaponization of our justice system.”
“As I have said from the start, the charges against me are baseless. It is time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to stop,” James said. “I am grateful to the members of the grand jury and humbled by the support I have received from across the country. Now, I will continue to do my job standing up for the rule of law and the people of New York.”
Multiple media outlets, including NBC and Fox News, reported Thursday evening that a grand jury had declined to re-indict James after the Justice Department brought charges against her for the second time.
The court has not announced the grand jury’s decision, and the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
The development comes less than two weeks after a judge dismissed the Justice Department’s original indictment against James.
Court documents filed on Oct. 9 revealed that the Justice Department had reached a grand jury indictment against James on charges of bank fraud and making false statements on a 2020 mortgage application about a property she owns.
James had purchased a home in Norfolk, Virginia, in August of that year, and stated on the loan documents that she would use the home as a personal residence rather than renting it out.
Prosecutors accused James of later renting the home out to a family of three and alleged that it allowed her to obtain better loan terms than if she had listed the house as a rental property when applying for the mortgage.
James denied the charges and pleaded not guilty on Oct. 24.
One month later, U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie of South Carolina dismissed James’s indictment along with the one against former FBI Director James Comey after determining that the prosecutor who brought the indictments was invalidly appointed.
Currie ruled that the Justice Department unlawfully appointed Lindsey Halligan, who brought both cases as the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Halligan previously served as a personal attorney to President Donald Trump.
After the judge dismissed those indictments, different prosecutors brought a new case against James before a grand jury in Norfolk, Virginia.
The Justice Department’s failure to secure an indictment against James on Thursday does not prevent prosecutors from attempting to bring charges again in the future.
By Jacob Burg
