by With investigations targeting U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James, the Justice Department is intensifying its attempts to examine alleged opponents of President Donald Trump.
According to someone familiar with the situation, James has been subpoenaed by the Justice Department for documents pertaining to a lawsuit the Democrat brought against Trump for allegedly engaging in fraudulent activity in his private business transactions. According to another source, it’s a component of an inquiry into whether James infringed on Trump’s civil rights. Records pertaining to a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association and its longstanding leader Wayne LaPierre are sought by another subpoena.
The individuals, who talked to The Associated Press on Friday under the condition of anonymity, were not allowed to disclose specifics of the probe in public.
According to one of the sources, Attorney General Pam Bondi last week also designated Ed Martin as a special prosecutor to assist in carrying out independent mortgage fraud investigations into James and California Democratic U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff. Schiff and James have referred to the allegations as politically driven and denied any misconduct.
The actions are some of the most severe the Justice Department has yet to take against the president’s political rivals, who pledged during the campaign to get revenge on his rivals. James and Schiff are both outspoken opponents of Trump, and James has filed numerous lawsuits against Trump and his Republican administration for his corporate practices and presidential policies.
The subpoenas were announced as the Justice Department continues its investigation into the Trump-Russia probe that followed Trump for a large portion of his first term in office and as the administration has been purging law enforcement personnel who had been involved in investigating Trump and his supporters.
Geoff Burgan, a spokesman for James’ office, said in a statement that any weaponization of the legal system should alarm every American, but he declined to confirm the subpoenas. We firmly support our successful legal actions against the National Rifle Association and the Trump Organization, and we will keep advocating for the rights of New Yorkers.
Abbe D. Lowell, James’ personal lawyer, described the subpoenas as improper in a different statement.
According to Lowell, the most obvious and desperate instance of this government pursuing the president’s political vengeance campaign must be the investigation of the fraud case Attorney General James won against President Trump and his companies. This administration’s use of the Department of Justice as a weapon to try to punish an elected official for carrying out her duties is a dangerous escalation and an assault on the rule of law.
Natalie Baldassarre, a Justice Department representative, declined to comment.
Following an accusation of mortgage fraud by a Trump administration official, FBI Director Kash Patel in May acknowledged that James was the subject of a separate investigation. According to James’ attorney, the accusation was false and sprang from a deliberate misunderstanding of documents in a legitimate real estate transaction.
Since his nomination as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia was withdrawn due to Republican lawmakers’ concerns regarding his lack of prosecutorial experience and support for the Jan. 6 rioters, Martin, who was appointed special prosecutor to assist in that investigation, has been in charge of the department’s Weaponization Working Group.
Martin is also a part of another probe investigating Schiff, who Trump has demanded be prosecuted for alleged mortgage fraud involving a Maryland property.
Schiff’s lawyer described the accusations as blatantly untrue, outdated, and extensively refuted.
According to Preet Bharara, a former U.S. attorney in New York who is defending the senator, Mr. Martin is a January 6 defending attorney who has consistently undertaken irrational and politically driven investigations to satisfy requests to go into and prosecute perceived adversaries. The exact definition of weaponizing the legal system would be any purported probe under his direction.
Get neighborhood news in your inbox. It’s free and enlightening.
Become one of the 20,000+ individuals who receive breaking news alerts and the Times of San Diego in their inbox every day at 8 a.m.
Weekly updates from San Diego communities have also been provided! You acknowledge and agree to the terms by clicking “Sign Up.” Choose from the options below.
In a lawsuit alleging that he and his companies misled banks and other lenders by providing them with financial statements that exaggerated the worth of his properties, including his golf clubs and his penthouse in Trump Tower, James won a $454 million verdict against Trump, which Trump is appealing.
Trump claims that his wealth was understated in his financial records and that any inaccuracies were innocuous and had no bearing on the banks’ loan choices. James has denied being involved in lawfare for political reasons, a charge that he and his attorneys have made on numerous occasions.
James also filed a lawsuit against LaPierre and the NRA in her capacity as a regulator of nonprofit organizations and charities with New York registration. The NRA itself failed to properly manage its assets and breached whistleblower rights, while LaPierre misused millions of dollars of the organization’s funding to support an opulent lifestyle, according to a verdict last year.
James attempted to completely disband the influential gun advocacy group, but a judge decided that the accusations were not serious enough to justify a corporate death sentence. On the eve of the trial, LaPierre resigned from the NRA, and the organization later claimed to have a new compliance team and new board members.
The New York Times first reported on the James subpoenas.
