MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos cautioned Friday that New York Attorney General Letitia James should be concerned about the Department of Justice’s reported investigation into whether she violated President Donald Trump’s civil rights through her lawsuit against him.
According to The New York Times, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York has issued subpoenas related to James’ civil fraud case against Trump and his company, as well as her case against the National Rifle Association (NRA). Speaking on Chris Jansing Reports, Cevallos noted that investigators could uncover unrelated incriminating evidence against James in the course of their probe.
“There is nothing scarier for a citizen [than] to get a subpoena or find out that they’re being investigated by a federal criminal grand jury. It’s terrifying. And here’s why: Grand jury investigations sweep broadly,” Cevallos said.
“They gather terabytes of information. And they’re very efficient at going through it. And the problem there for people is that they may be investigating issue number one and then stumble across never before known issue number two when going through all those documents,” he continued.
“That is why if somebody is the subject, the target, of a grand jury investigation, that is not a good sign. So given that the federal government has such tremendous power to investigate, Letitia James should be very concerned,” Cevallos added.
“Not that she necessarily did anything wrong, but because that kind of scrutiny of financial records, of business records, everything going back probably years, might yield something that the government finds interesting,” he said.
During her 2018 campaign for attorney general, James pledged to investigate Trump. In September 2022, she filed a lawsuit accusing him of inflating the value of his real estate holdings to secure loans.
In February 2024, James secured a ruling ordering Trump to pay $354 million, with additional penalties pushing the total to more than $450 million.
James’ attorney Abbe Lowell told the New York Times that a probe into the civil fraud case is “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.”
“Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration,” he told the outlet. “If prosecutors carry out this improper tactic and are genuinely interested in the truth, we are ready and waiting with facts and the law.”
Meanwhile, on May 8, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York reportedly launched a formal investigation into James over alleged mortgage fraud.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday announced the appointment of a special prosecutor to oversee cases against both James and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, the latter of whom is also charged with alleged mortgage fraud.
Bondi told Fox News’ Peter Doocy that a special prosecutor is necessary to avoid any appearance of political animus that could influence a jury or judge’s decision about whether either defendant is guilty. James and Schiff are both accused of misrepresenting their residences to obtain better mortgage rates, ABC News reported.
Taking over will be Ed Martin, who was President Donald Trump’s first nominee to become U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, but that nomination was tanked by retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Martin’s selection came the same day a grand jury was convened to consider charges against James, who was referred to Bondi by federal mortgage authorities after discrepancies were found on paperwork for several properties she purchased.
Documents appeared to show James listing her father as her husband — potentially to get more favorable home loan terms for married couples — and undercounting the number of units in a Brooklyn brownstone.
Schiff was referred for claiming his primary residence at a Maryland property he bought in 2009, which he did not list as a secondary residence until 2021.
