New York Attorney General Tish James was indicted Thursday in Virginia, marking a major escalation in President Trump’s mission to seek retribution against his perceived political enemies, sources told the Daily News.
The case against New York’s top law enforcement official was presented to a grand jury by Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s recently appointed interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to MSNBC, which first reported on the indictment. Halligan recently secured charges against former FBI Director James Comey, a staunch Trump critic, alleging he lied to Congress.
What James has been charged with is unclear. Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience, reportedly pursued the indictment following an investigation into allegations that the AG engaged in mortgage fraud while helping her niece finance a home in Norfolk, Va., allegations James has previously denied.
In a statement, James said the indictment was part and parcel of “a desperate weaponization of our justice system” and that Trump was forcing the hand of federal law enforcement.
“These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost. The president’s actions are a grave violation of our Constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties,” the statement read.
“His decision to fire a United States Attorney who refused to bring charges against me — and replace them with someone who is blindly loyal not to the law, but to the president — is antithetical to the bedrock principles of our country,” James’ statement continued. “This is the time for leaders on both sides of the aisle to speak out against this blatant perversion of our system of justice.”
The Daily News reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
James’ office brought a bombshell case against the Trump Organization that went on trial in October 2023, just more than a year before his return to power, after a sweeping two-year investigation.
The case culminated in Trump and his top executives being found liable on a series of claims alleging they committed wide-scale fraud for years — grossly misrepresenting Trump’s net worth to banks and lenders — while operating his family-run real estate empire. Trump was hit with nearly half a billion dollars in fines. A mid-level appeals court recently upheld the findings but found the financial penalty was too high.
The president has disparaged James incessantly, regularly accusing her on Truth Social of leading a witch hunt against him and goading her from the witness box when he took the stand at his trial, deriding her as a “political hack” as she sat in the front row.
Seth Wenig/AP
New York Attorney General Leticia James, back, sits in the courtroom before the start of closing arguments in former President Donald Trump’s civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)
Comey pleaded not guilty to the charges against him on Wednesday. Like James, he has long been a target of the president. Halligan reportedly presented evidence to secure an indictment against the former FBI director after career prosecutors refused to pursue one. Trump’s DOJ also recently fired Comey’s daughter, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, without reason. The highly respected Manhattan prosecutor was involved in cases against Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean “Diddy” Combs and has brought a lawsuit seeking her reinstatement.
The charges against Comey and AG James come weeks after Trump ordered U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his perceived enemies, accidentally posting the directive publicly on his social media site, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,” Trump wrote in the post.
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
Thursday’s news prompted outrage over Trump using the federal government’s tremendous enforcement powers to go after his perceived enemies and the apparent demolition of the wall of independence between the White House and the DOJ established after President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal.
“President Trump’s open interference in the Department of Justice’s investigation — demanding charges, forcing out the prosecutor, and installing a loyalist — is a stunning violation of our country’s long tradition of an independent judicial system. The indictment of Letitia James makes it clearer than ever that President Trump has prioritized retaliation over the rule of law,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman and ACLU Chief Political and Advocacy Officer Deirdre Schifeling said in a statement.
“Whether it’s targeting Jimmy Kimmel, James Comey, Letitia James or the millions of everyday people exercising their rights to free speech, this administration’s efforts to prosecute and bully and intimidate will only strengthen the People’s resolve to exercise our freedoms and defend our democracy.”
Originally Published: October 9, 2025 at 5:59 PM EDT
