U.S. Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi has appointed a “particular lawyer” to probe mortgage fraud allegations in opposition to Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and New York Attorney General Letitia James, two administration officers advised NBC Information.
The Justice Division can be within the preliminary levels of an investigation of James over her successful civil fraud case against President Donald Trump, in keeping with three individuals aware of the matter.
Bondi tapped Ed Martin, a conservative activist and former interim U.S. lawyer for Washington, D.C., as particular lawyer to analyze Schiff and James, each outstanding Democratic opponents of the president, the 2 administration officers mentioned.
A senior legislation enforcement official mentioned a grand jury seated within the Japanese District of Virginia will examine the James mortgage fraud allegations and a grand jury in Maryland will examine the allegations in opposition to Schiff.
Martin met Friday morning with Federal Housing Finance Company Director Invoice Pulte, who despatched a felony referral for the California senator to the Justice Division in Could, the administration officers mentioned. Pulte despatched a referral for James in April, prompting the Justice Division to open an investigation into allegations that she made false statements on mortgage mortgage functions.
Trump had beforehand referred to as for each Democratic officers to be prosecuted due to the mortgage fraud allegations.
Schiff and James have denied wrongdoing.
Preet Bharara, who’s representing Schiff, mentioned in an announcement Friday that the allegations in opposition to the senator “are transparently false, stale, and lengthy debunked.”
Schiff beforehand blasted Trump’s claims in a video assertion in July. “That is the form of stuff you see tinpot dictators do. It’s designed to intimidate his political opponents and one way or the other attempt to silence them,” he mentioned then.
The U.S. lawyer’s probe of James is concentrated on whether or not her workplace used its authority to violate Trump’s authorized rights by its civil lawsuits in opposition to the president and his companies, in keeping with three individuals aware of the matter.
That investigation can be taking a look at whether or not the Nationwide Rifle Affiliation’s rights have been violated by her civil fits, the three sources mentioned. It’s being run out of the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Northern District of New York, two of these sources mentioned.
In response to an NBC Information inquiry, a spokesperson for the lawyer basic’s workplace mentioned: “Any weaponization of the justice system ought to disturb each American. We stand strongly behind our profitable litigation in opposition to the Trump Group and the Nationwide Rifle Affiliation, and we’ll proceed to face up for New Yorkers’ rights.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace didn’t return a request for remark.
James, a Democrat, successfully sued Trump and his company over what her workplace mentioned have been fraudulent misrepresentations of his wealth and monetary statements. A choose awarded James’ workplace over $300 million within the case, an quantity that’s since swelled to over $500 million with curiosity. Trump is interesting the judgment.
James’ workplace additionally sued the NRA and its management with combined outcomes. The lawyer basic had sought the dissolution of the NRA in what is usually known as the company “demise penalty,” however a choose struck down these claims.
In 2024, James’ workplace did win its civil corruption case in opposition to the longtime head of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, with a jury discovering him answerable for diverting tens of millions of {dollars} from the gun group for his personal private way of life.
The gun group mentioned it was “gratified” to seek out out in regards to the investigation.
“She makes use of her powers as an elected official to attempt, in her phrases, to ‘dissolve the group in its entirety,’ thus silencing the voice of tens of millions of our members,” NRA Govt Vice President and CEO Doug Hamlin mentioned in an announcement. “That she now expresses issues over ‘weaponization’ is the peak of hypocrisy — an utter lack of self-awareness on the very least.”
It’s not instantly clear how far alongside the DOJ investigation into James’ workplace is and what proof, if any, the Justice Division has gathered within the probe.
An lawyer for James, Abbe Lowell, mentioned the probe of James’ fraud case in opposition to Trump and his companies “must be probably the most blatant and determined instance of this administration finishing up the president’s political retribution marketing campaign.”
“Weaponizing the Division of Justice to attempt to punish an elected official for doing her job is an assault on the rule of legislation and a harmful escalation by this administration,” he added.
The FBI and Justice Division started its probe of the mortgage fraud allegations in opposition to James within the spring. It’s unclear why Martin is now in control of the assessment.
Martin served as Trump’s interim U.S. lawyer for Washington, D.C., earlier this yr, however his nomination was withdrawn after Republican senators expressed issues over his affiliation with Jan. 6 rioters. Trump then introduced in Could that Martin was transferring to the Justice Division to function director of a “weaponization working group.”
Martin didn’t touch upon the Friday appointment.
In his assertion defending Schiff, Bharara criticized Martin, calling him “probably the most overtly partisan and politically compromised particular person potential for the duty.”
“Any supposed investigation led by him can be the very definition of weaponization of the justice course of,” mentioned Bharara, who served as U.S. lawyer for the Southern District of New York earlier than being fired by Trump throughout his first time period in workplace.
Lowell pushed again on the allegations in opposition to James in an April letter to Bondi, acknowledging there have been some mistaken kinds whereas noting contemporaneous letters and kinds exhibiting that James submitted the proper info.
The letter referred to as the “threadbare allegations” the “subsequent salvo in President Trump’s revenge tour in opposition to Legal professional Basic James.”
Along with her fraud case in opposition to Trump and his corporations, James and her workplace have launched quite a lot of profitable authorized challenges to his administration’s agenda, relationship again to his first time period in workplace.
Trump has maintained that James is biased in opposition to him. In 2021, he sued to stop her from continuing along with her fraud investigation, saying, “Her mission is guided solely by political animus and a want to harass, intimidate, and retaliate in opposition to a non-public citizen who she views as a political opponent.” The lawsuit additionally alleged that Trump was the sufferer of “viewpoint discrimination.”
Trump later dropped the suit, however has continued to criticize James, together with in an April Reality Social submit that referred to as her a “wacky” and “completely corrupt politician” who ought to instantly resign.
CORRECTION (Aug. 12, 2025, 9:47 a.m. ET): An earlier model of this text misidentified the case in opposition to LaPierre. It was a civil corruption case, not a civil fraud case.
