The Trump administration continues to appear to use the power of the federal government and the criminal justice system to target President Donald Trump’s political and legal foes. After having failed to pursue a criminal housing fraud case against New York’s attorney general, the administration now seeks to revive charges against her in the form of an insurance fraud investigation.
Trump official accuses Letitia James of insurance fraud
MS NOW reports that Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has sent criminal referrals to two Trump-nominated U.S. attorneys’ offices, alleging that New York Attorney General Letitia James lied on insurance paperwork regarding properties she owns. The letters reference social media posts pro-Trump lawyer Mike Davis made.
In his letter to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quinones, Pulte claims it “appears Ms. James made false representations that her property would be unoccupied five months out of the year.”
The letter to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros references Davis’ social media posts, claiming, “It appears Ms. James made representations that the house would be occupied by a single adult, with no children. Instead, according to the post, she knew the house was actually occupied by four people — three children and her niece.”
The Trump administration goes after the president’s opponents
The allegations, which Pulte characterizes as instances of fraud committed against Universal Property Insurance and Allstate Insurance Company, are an attempt to revive a criminal prosecution against James, who as New York attorney general successfully sued Trump and the Trump Organization for housing fraud for inflating the value of Trump properties in New York; the financial penalty against Trump in that case was later thrown out on appeal. Since Trump returned to the White House, he and members of his administration have used investigations and criminal charges to go after James and other Trump opponents. The initial criminal case against James, who was accused of lying about her properties on her mortgage paperwork, came from a referral by Pulte to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blance. That criminal case against James was later thrown out by a federal judge alongside a separate case against former FBI Director James Comey, another Trump foe.
The Trump administration is ‘abusing their power’ to target James
James’ attorney, Abbe D. Lowell, said in a statement to MS NOW, “Frustrated by repeated failures, where judges and grand juries have rejected their attempts to charge Attorney General James, Trump and his political enablers keep abusing their power to pursue a vendetta against her by trying to rename, refile, and repeat baseless allegations. They continue this improper revenge campaign instead of helping bring down the rising cost of living in this country. These desperate tactics will fail — just as every previous attempt has failed — and exposes an Administration that has abandoned its responsibility to the American people in favor of petty political payback.”
It is unclear whether the current accusations against James will lead to charges similar to those brought in 2025, and any case against her would likely be met with tough scrutiny in the courts, given the history of the administration’s attempts to target her. But the mere fact that James is again under investigation by the Trump administration demonstrates that the president and his aides are not yet done targeting her and other Trump opponents.
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