DOJ’s failure to indict Trump enemy Letitia James won’t stop it from trying again
Although a federal grand jury declined Thursday to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges, the case isn’t necessarily over. At the urging of President Donald Trump, the Justice Department says it will again try to bring charges against James, one of the president’s most prominent perceived enemies.
The grand jury’s rejection of charges against James came just two weeks after a judge dismissed an earlier indictment charging her with citing homes in both New York and Virginia as her primary residence, potentially giving her favorable terms on mortgages for both properties.
There is no concrete number of how many times the federal government can indict — or try to indict — someone on the same charges. Prosecutors may take the same case to a grand jury more than once — and more than twice — as long as they meet certain legal conditions.
Trump and James’ legal showdowns
James has faced Trump’s ire since 2022, when she brought a sweeping civil fraud lawsuit against him and his primary business in New York. The lawsuit accused Trump of inflating his assets by billions of dollars to qualify for loans.
In 2024, a state court judge in New York found Trump and the Trump Organization liable in 2024 and imposed a large financial penalty that eventually exceeded $500 million with interest.
An appellate court threw out the financial penalty in August, ruling it was excessive. However, the court upheld the finding that Trump inflated his wealth for decades, and he and his two oldest sons remain barred from corporate leadership positions in New York state. Trump has since referred to James as a “wacky crook,” and after returning to the White House, he urged his Justice Department to dig up dirt on her.
In September, Trump urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute both James and former FBI director James Comey, another of his enemies. But when U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert of the Eastern District of Virginia failed to seek indictments, Trump forced him out. He then appointed Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide and his former personal attorney, to replace Siebert. Halligan had no experience as a prosecutor.
The following month, Halligan persuaded a grand jury to indict James on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution regarding a 2020 Virginia home loan. The same grand jury also indicted Comey.
But U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed both cases last month, saying Trump had unconstitutionally appointed Halligan as interim U.S. attorney, making the indictments invalid.
The James case seemed to be over. It wasn’t.
Second indictment attempt
This week, the Justice Department brought the same allegations about James to a new grand jury.
This time, the jury declined to return an indictment. The Justice Department said it will try again. But how many times prosecutors will attempt to indict James is yet to be seen.
If a grand jury issues a “no bill,” as it did in James’ most recent legal encounter, this does not mean she was acquitted of the charges. An acquittal would have protected the defendant under the concept of double jeopardy, meaning that once the defendant is found not guilty, the same criminal charges cannot be brought against the defendant again.
James denies any wrongdoing.
“As I have said from the start, the charges against me are baseless,” she said Thursday in a statement. ”It is time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to stop.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
