🔗 Share this article

A senior federal prosecutor in Virginia has informed her colleagues that she finds no basis there is probable cause to pursue fraudulent mortgage charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to a source knowledgeable about the situation.

The prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, who manages 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 ally of the former president who was installed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in the previous month.

The Justice Department offered no statement on the matter. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia also did not respond to a request for comment.

Major Confrontation Between Department of Justice and Former President

This case signals another notable confrontation between the Justice Department and Trump, who has in the past fired attorneys who refused to target his political enemies. Halligan, who possesses no prosecutorial experience, was appointed to the role following pressure from Trump after her preceding attorney concluded there was insufficient evidence to file criminal charges against James Comey, the previous FBI director.

Trump has explicitly called for the U.S. Attorney General to take legal action against James, who spearheaded a civil fraud case against the ex-president that resulted in a half-billion dollar fine, though the decision was later thrown out by a New York state appellate court.

Mortgage Fraud Accusations and Investigation

William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head and a staunch Trump ally, made a allegation against James to the Justice Department in April, alleging she may have committed mortgage fraud. Pulte pointed to mortgage documents associated with a 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home that James assisted in buying for her niece, in which James appeared to indicate on a document that she intended to use the home as her primary residence. James was holding the position of the Attorney General of New York at the time.

Prosecutors convened a grand jury in May to investigate the matter but had trouble building a case against James, even with urging from Trump allies. Messages from the time of the home purchase and further mortgage documents show James directly noting that she did not intend for the home to be her primary residence. This evidence poses a challenge for prosecutors to prove that James intentionally misled on the mortgage documents.

Ongoing Shake-Up in Prosecutorial Division

Multiple prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have been dismissed or left their posts in recent weeks as Trump has escalated pressure on the office to bring charges against Comey and James.

Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor, resigned on September 19 after experiencing 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 inaccurate accusations from a pro-Trump media personality.

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

“Justice for Americans killed and injured by our enemies should not be subject to what someone in the Department of Justice encounters in their digital platforms that day.”