A legal analyst on Tuesday flagged what she called a "gaping omission" in the indictment filed by one of President Donald Trump's allies, U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, against New York Attorney General Letitia James.
James was indicted last month on allegations that she deceived her mortgage lender to get a more favorable interest rate on a home she owns. In all, prosecutors allege James benefited to the tune of $19,000 from this move.
Liz Dye, host of the "Law and Chaos" podcast, went through the indictment on Tuesday during a new episode of "Legal Eagle" on YouTube. Dye said she found a "gaping omission" that Halligan left out of the filing, which Dye said shows the facts are "not good for her case."
Dye pointed to a rider that Fannie Mae, James' mortgage lender, approved in 2019 that expressly allows mortgage holders to rent their properties. Halligan's indictment accused James of misrepresenting the use of her property to the mortgage lender.
"So, she can't hand it over to a property management company or turn it into a timeshare. Fair enough. That's why the rider says that James agreed to keep the property available primarily as a residence for the borrower's personal use.
A New York Times report found that James is currently letting her niece live in the property, which Halligan alleged is a fraudulent act on James' part.
"But you know what's missing?" Dye said. "An allegation that she agreed to use it as a time-sharing or other shared ownership arrangement or agreement...That's kind of a gaping omission."
"Halligan never says that James entered into an agreement to rent the property," she continued. "She says that James rented it out. Those two things are not the same."