(The Center Square) — The Justice Department has subpoenaed New York Attorney General Letitia James as part of an investigation into whether she violated President Donald Trump’s civil rights during his civil trial on fraud charges, according to published reports.
The subpoenas, first reported by New York Times, are part of a broader probe of her civil fraud trial against Trump and his family business on charges that he broke the law by inflating the values on his New York City properties.
That trial ended in a $454 million civil judgment against the Trump organization and several of its executives, which Trump is appealing.
Several media outlets reported the investigation is also looking at whether the National Rifle Association’s rights were violated by James’ civil lawsuits. The probe is being run by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, according to the New York Post.
“Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American,” a James spokesperson said in a statement Friday blasting the move and vowing to fight any allegations of wrongdoing. “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.”
James’ attorney Abbe Lowell accused Trump of “weaponizing” the DOJ “to punish an elected official for doing her job” and called it “an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration.”
“Investigating the fraud case Attorney General James won against President Trump and his businesses has to be the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign,” he said in a statement. “If prosecutors carry out this improper tactic and are genuinely interested in the truth, we are ready and waiting with the facts and the law.”
James, a Democrat first elected in 2018, has been a frequent critic of Trump and, in addition to the civil fraud trial, has filed several multistate lawsuits against the Trump administration over federal immigration policies, rollbacks in federal funding, and worker layoffs and other actions.
The Democrat is also facing potential criminal charges by federal prosecutors over allegations she engaged in mortgage fraud. In April, the Federal Housing Finance Agency sent a letter to the DOJ accusing James of committing fraud by listing a home in Virginia as her primary residence and identifying her father as her husband on federally backed mortgage loan applications to get a lower interest rate and more favorable terms.
