New York Attorney General Letitia James put out a brief statement on X Thursday evening, after President Donald Trump's Justice Department secured a bank fraud indictment against her in a federal court in Northern Virginia.
"This is nothing more than a continuation of the president's desperate weaponization of our justice system. He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York State Attorney General," said James, who has been a target of the president's wrath for years, further intensified after she secured a half-billion-dollar civil fraud judgment against his family business.
"These charges are baseless," she continued. "And the president's own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost. The president's actions are a grave violation of our constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties. His decision to fire a United States attorney who refused to bring charges against me and replace them with someone who is blindly loyal not to the law, but to the president, is antithetical to the bedrock principles of our country."
"This is the time for leaders on both sides of the aisle to speak out against this blatant perversion of our system of justice," James said. "I stand strongly behind my office's litigation against the Trump Organization. We conducted a two-year investigation based on the facts and evidence, not politics. Judges have upheld the trial court's finding that Donald Trump, his company, and his two sons are liable for fraud."
"I'm a proud woman of faith, and I know that faith and fear cannot share the same space," she added. "And so today, I'm not fearful. I'm fearless. And as my faith teaches me, no weapon formed against me shall prosper. We will fight these baseless charges aggressively, and my office will continue to fiercely protect New Yorkers and their rights."
