🔗 Share this article

A veteran federal prosecutor in Virginia has told her colleagues that she does not believe there is probable cause to pursue mortgage fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to a source acquainted with the situation.

The prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, who supervises major criminal cases in the Norfolk office for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, will imminently present her finding to Lindsey Halligan, a supporter of Trump who was placed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia recently.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the matter. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia also did not return a request for comment.

Significant Clash Between DOJ and Trump

This case signals another major confrontation between the Justice Department and Trump, who has earlier fired attorneys who declined to take action against his opponents. Halligan, who possesses no prosecutorial experience, was appointed to the role after requests by Trump after her preceding attorney concluded there was no legal basis to file criminal charges against James Comey, the former FBI director.

Trump has explicitly demanded the U.S. Attorney General to prosecute James, who headed a civil fraud case against the former president that resulted in a half-billion dollar fine, though the decision was later overturned by a New York state appellate court.

Housing Fraud Claims and Investigation

William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head and a dedicated Trump ally, made a allegation against James to the Justice Department in April, claiming she may have committed mortgage fraud. Pulte referenced mortgage documents associated with a 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home that James helped purchase for her niece, in which James appeared to indicate on a document that she planned to occupy the home as her main home. James was holding the position of the Attorney General of New York at the time.

Prosecutors formed a grand jury in May to look into the matter but struggled building a case against James, even with demands from Trump allies. Emails from the time of the home purchase and further mortgage documents reveal James explicitly stating that she did not intend for the home to be her primary residence. This evidence poses a challenge for prosecutors to prove that James deliberately falsified on the mortgage documents.

Ongoing Changes in Prosecutorial Division

Multiple prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have faced termination or stepped down in recent weeks as Trump has escalated pressure on the office to bring charges against Comey and James.

Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor, left his position on September 19 after encountering pressure from Trump to file charges. Maya Song, a key deputy to Siebert, was also fired in late September. Michael Ben’Ary, a prominent national security prosecutor in the office, was similarly dismissed last week after unfounded accusations from a pro-Trump media personality.

“The leadership is focused with punishing the President’s perceived enemies than they are with protecting our national security,” he wrote in his departure note to colleagues.

“Justice for Americans affected by our enemies should not be contingent on what someone in the Department of Justice encounters in their online content that day.”