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XPost: sac.politics
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has appointed a "special attorney" to
probe mortgage fraud allegations against Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and
New York Attorney General Letitia James, two administration officials
told NBC News.
The Justice Department is also in the initial stages of an investigation
of James over her successful civil fraud case against President Donald
Trump, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Bondi tapped Ed Martin, a conservative activist and former interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., as special attorney to investigate Schiff
and James, both prominent Democratic opponents of the president, the two administration officials said.
A senior law enforcement official said a grand jury seated in the
Eastern District of Virginia will investigate the James mortgage fraud allegations and a grand jury in Maryland will investigate the
allegations against Schiff.
Martin met Friday morning with Federal Housing Finance Agency Director
Bill Pulte, who sent a criminal referral on the California senator to
the Justice Department in May, the administration officials said. Pulte
sent a referral on James in April, prompting the Justice Department to
open an investigation on allegations that she made false statements on
mortgage loan applications.
Schiff and James have denied any wrongdoing.
Trump had previously called for both Democratic officials to be
prosecuted because of the mortgage fraud allegations. Schiff and James
have denied wrongdoing.
Schiff blasted Trump's claims in a video statement in July. "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," he said then.
The U.S. attorney probe of James is focused on whether her office used
its authority to violate Trump's legal rights through its civil lawsuits against the president and his businesses, according to three people
familiar with the matter.
That investigation is also looking at whether the National Rifle
Association's rights were violated by her civil suits, the three sources
said. It is being run out of the U.S. Attorney�s Office for the Northern District of New York, two of those sources said.
In response to an NBC News inquiry, a spokesperson for the attorney
general�s office said: �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.�
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney�s Office did not return a request
for comment.
James, a Democrat, successfully sued Trump and his company over what her
office said were fraudulent misrepresentations of his wealth and
financial statements. A judge awarded James� office over $300 million in
the case, an amount that's since swelled to over $500 million with
interest. Trump is appealing the judgment.
James' office also sued the NRA and its leadership with mixed results.
The attorney general had sought the dissolution of the NRA in what is
commonly referred to as the corporate �death penalty,� but a judge
struck down those claims.
In 2024, James' office did win its civil fraud case against the longtime
head of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, with a jury convicting him of diverting millions of dollars from the gun group for his own personal lifestyle.
The gun group said it was "gratified" to find out about the
investigation.
"She uses her powers as an elected official to try, in her words, to
�dissolve the organization in its entirety', thus silencing the voice of millions of our members,� NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Doug
Hamlin said in a statement. "That she now expresses concerns over �weaponization� is the height of hypocrisy--an utter lack of
self-awareness at the very least.�
It is not immediately clear how far along the DOJ investigation into
James' office is and what evidence, if any, the Justice Department has
gathered in the probe.
An attorney for James, Abbe Lowell, said the probe of James' fraud case
against Trump and his businesses �has to be the most blatant and
desperate example of this administration carrying out the president�s
political retribution campaign."
"Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected
official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a
dangerous escalation by this administration," he added.
The FBI and Justice Department began its probe of the mortgage fraud allegations against James in the spring. It's unclear why Martin is now
in charge of the review.
Martin served as Trump's interim U.S. attorney for Washngton, D.C.,
earlier this year, but his nomination was withdrawn after Republican
senators expressed concerns over his association with Jan. 6 rioters.
Trump then announced in May that Martin was moving to the Justice
Department to serve as director of a �weaponization working group."
Martin did not comment on the Friday appointment.
Lowell pushed back on the allegations against James in an April letter
to Bondi, acknowledging there were some mistaken forms while noting contemporaneous letters and forms showing that James submitted the
correct information.
The letter called the "threadbare allegations" the "next salvo in
President Trump�s revenge tour against Attorney General James."
In addition to her fraud case against Trump and his companies, James and
her office have launched a number of successful legal challenges to his administration's agenda, dating back to his first term in office.
Trump has maintained that James is biased against him. In 2021, he sued
to stop her from proceeding with her fraud investigation, saying, �Her
mission is guided solely by political animus and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent." The lawsuit also alleged that Trump was the victim
of "viewpoint discrimination."
Trump later dropped the suit, but has continued to criticize James,
including in an April Truth Social post that called her a "wacky" and
"totally corrupt politician" who should immediately resign.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-opens-investigati on-new-york-ags-office-brought-fraud-case-trump-rcna223731
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