George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Friday that federal prosecutors could be stymied in their efforts to convict Democratic Attorney General Letitia James of New York by a “technicality.”
A federal grand jury indicted James on two counts on Thursday about mortgage fraud allegations surrounding a house in Norfolk, Virginia, that netted James at least $19,000 in savings on a loan. Turley told “America Reports” co-hosts John Roberts and Sandra Smith that while the federal prosecutors got an indictment, attorneys for the outspoken critic of President Donald Trump could make the case “messy.”
“This is going to be a tough case for the Department of Justice to be able to land,” Turley said. “While they got this case out of New York, it’s in a very blue district in Virginia, and also, there’s going to be some threshold challenges here and one of them has some merit, that doesn’t mean it’s going to prevail.”
“James is likely to say that the acting U.S. attorney, who signed off on these charges, was not appropriately appointed, and therefore should not have held that office,” Turley continued. “If that is the case, then the indictment would go down.”
WATCH:
Trump appointed Lindsey Halligan to replace Erik Siebert as acting United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after Siebert resigned under pressure over the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.
Turley noted that in the case of James, who sued Trump in September 2022, alleging he overstated the value of real estate holdings in order to obtain loans, there was a major difference in that she profited from the alleged fraud.
“The government is alleging she made serious money, that by misrepresenting the status of this property, she made thousands of dollars,” Turley said. “And so, unlike her case [against Trump], they can actually cite the money that ended up benefiting her. Now, does that mean they can make this case with an entire jury in northern Virginia? I think the odds still favor James.”
“And also, there is a good chance that this technicality she is likely to raise could delay the case,” Turley said. “The argument is that the president has 120 days to assign an acting U.S. attorney, but he had already used that period with her predecessor. There is also suggestion that the reason that predecessor was let go, or forced out, is that he was not going to sign off on this prosecution. So, it’s going to get very messy very fast in this case.”
James vowed to investigate Trump during her initial campaign for attorney general in 2018, during which she labeled him an “illegitimate president.” James also promised to “target the NRA” in a July 2018 release by her campaign, vowing to “investigate the legitimacy of the NRA as a charitable institution.”
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