Letitia James: Convicting Me for My Alleged Mortgage Fraud Will Be Tough Because...

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New York Attorney General Letitia James — a hardcore, partisan Democrat who successfully campaigned on using the power of her office to prosecute Donald Trump — seems quite upset that other people have noticed that some of her own personal choices may very well amount to criminal conduct. As we've covered previously, she now stands accused of mortgage fraud. That would be actual, tangible fraud, as opposed to the nonsense, victimless "fraud" case she brought against Trump, under an exotic and novel legal theory. (The massive judgment against Trump has since been thrown out by a court, with appeals underway). We will remind you of those particulars below, but here is James bellyaching about the situation in which she finds herself, or in which she has placed herself through her actions, on the podcast of someone who once falsely claimed that her own bigoted writings were the result of nonexistent "hacking":

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She might be right on the burden of proof point, though such niceties haven't stopped her from persecution efforts in the past. It does also seem like she came somewhat close to a semi-confession in that clip, accentuating the point about how hard it is to prove intent, rather than denying her actions. It's as if she's setting up a preemptive defense of, well, I did it — but you can't necessarily prove that I *meant* to do it. How could the details below be construed as accidental, especially coming from an attorney who is the top law enforcement officer in one of the largest states in the country? James called the allegations against her "baseless." Does all of this information sound purely baseless?

New York Attorney General Letitia James listed a Virginia home more than 300 miles from her office in New York City as her “principal residence” in official public documents obtained by The Post — but neighbors said Wednesday that they’ve never seen her. According to Norfolk property records, James granted power of attorney to her niece Shamice Thompson-Hairston on Aug. 17, 2023, authorizing the purchase of the Virginia property — for which they secured a $219,780 mortgage. In the document, James attested, “I hereby declare I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence.” The document was witnessed by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy and a New York state secretary — and notarized...The 1,450-square-foot home is at the center of a federal criminal referral for mortgage fraud alleging James “falsified records” to get a more favorable loan rate when she purchased the residence in 2023 with her niece. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte detailed these and other allegations of James playing fast and loose with residency requirements in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche obtained by The Post...The referral also accused James, whose salary is $220,000, of misrepresenting the number of apartments for a building she owns in Brooklyn — saying it has four units, when NYC Department of Buildings records say it has five. That’s a key distinction because buildings with four or fewer units quality for mortgages with better terms.
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I'd love an explanation of how that's all a series of oopses, even if federal prosecutors are reportedly struggling to make a criminal case against her, which, in turn, also reportedly angering the president.  That's not how prosecution decisions are supposed to work, but politicized decisions are very much how Ms. James likes to roll, too.  She name-checked Sen. Adam Schiff and embattled Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook in her podcast answer, framing these investigations as illegitimate political witch hunts.  Setting aside how that's precisely what her civil case against Trump was, the fact patterns at play here are pretty damning. Here is a summary of the Schiff matter. We reviewed the Cook controversy here (a court has at least temporarily halted Trump from firing Cook for cause, as it relates to this issue). An update, which also goes to intent:


Ms. Cook declared two homes in separate states to be her "primary" residences, thus being eligible for more favorable terms on mortgages and taxes, over the span of two weeks.  How can that be spun as inadvertent? Ms. James signed documents, attesting under penalty of perjury that a house hundreds of miles away from her actual home would be her primary dwelling. She seems to have never lived there at all. How is that accidental? It is not legal to do these things. Public officials, and especially ones with the power to jail others, make laws that bind others, and help set interest rates for the entire country, must abide by the rules and laws that govern all of us. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but many believe we have already seen some clear evidence that these office holders have failed to do so and have violated the law. James can whine about this in public until she's blue in the face. The facts should speak for themselves. So should this: 

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I'm not a legal expert, and I won't pretend to be one — but if this media report is true (warranted skepticism, as always), I think politicizing criminal prosecutorial decisions like this is dangerous and wrong:  


Do you know who doesn't believe that politicizing criminal prosecutorial decisions is dangerous and wrong? Letitia James. She campaigned openly on it. Her documented actions, summarized above, are at least much closer to cut-and-dried unlawful activity than Trump's supposed violations that she turned into an utterly politicized legal travesty. And yes, by the way, if prominent conservatives are doing the same thing, that is also a problem. The law needs to apply to everyone evenly, or not at all. And since we're on the subject of Democratic officials who've abused their power and disgraced themselves in pursuit of “getting” Donald Trump, I'll leave you with a separate development from this week:

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