Dec. 5 (UPI) — A federal grand jury has rejected the Justice Department’s bid to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to reports, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump‘s effort to prosecute political opponents.
The Norfolk, Va., grand jury decision comes less than two weeks after a federal judge threw out criminal cases against James and FBI Director James Comey.
“The grand jury’s refusal to re-indict Attorney General James is a decisive rejection of a case that should never have existed in the first place,” Abbe Lowell, James’ lead defense attorney, told Politico in a statement.
James successfully sued Trump in a major civil case that found he had committed long-running financial fraud by overstating asset values in order to obtain favorable loans and insurance terms.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has used the presidency to target perceived political foes, from law firms associated with lawyers who prosecuted him to Democratic critics.
Trump has sought a criminal mortgage fraud case against James, with a grand jury in mid-October indicting her for falsely claiming a Norfolk property she bought in 2020 would be her primary residence to secure better mortgage terms.
That indictment was thrown out last month by U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie of South Carolina who said it was unlawful because of the appointment of the interim attorney, Lindsey Halligan, was invalid.
Trump appointed Halligan, a White House aide without prosecutorial experience, after her predecessor, Erik Siebert, abruptly resigned in September amid concerns he’d be fired for failing to bring charges against both James and Comey, another political opponent.
Siebert had been appointed in January to serve as interim U.S. attorney, a position only t be filled for 120 days.
“A federal court threw this case out after President Trump illegally installed a U.S. attorney to file baseless charges against Attorney General James that career prosecutors refused to bring,” Lowell said, The Hill reported.
“This should be the end of this case.”
In response to the decision, James said she was “grateful” to the members of the grand jury.
“As I have said from the start, the charges against me are baseless. It is time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to stop,” she said in a statement.
“Now, I will continue to do my job standing up for the rule of law and the people of New York.”