New York Attorney General Letitia James is under investigation by the Department of Justice for bringing a civil fraud case against President Donald Trump during the 2024 election.
The investigation will look into whether James ‘weaponized’ her office against Trump and his businesses in the lead up to the presidential election.
It’s the latest step in the ongoing saga between Trump and his political nemesis James.
In 2022, James launched a lawsuit against Trump and his family company alleging that he misrepresented his wealth and overvalued company properties.
As a result, Trump was embroiled in a three-month trial in NYC that ripped open his company’s finances and put his family in the spotlight before the election.
In February 2024, a Manhattan judge found Trump and his oldest sons liable for fraud in the case and ordered an unprecedented $454 million payout.
The president slammed James and Judge Arthur Engoron of political bias against him and has appealed the ruling.
The DOJ’s latest investigation into James is the second probe launched since the start of the start of the Trump administration.
Trump’s DOJ launched a new probe into the New York attorney general’s office
James’ office launched a civil fraud case against Trump and his company for overvaluing his wealth
The scope of the DOJ’s latest investigation into James is not immediately clear
Details surrounding the scope, evidence, or how far along the DOJ investigation into James’s office was not immediately available.
The NY attorney general’s office responded to the investigation by calling the DOJ’s actions a ‘weaponization of the justice system.’
‘Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American,’ the statement reads.
The criminal investigation will also focus on James’ separate 2020 lawsuit against the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the organization’s leadership.
James sought to legally dissolve the NRA but was overruled by a judge.
During the 2024 election, Trump faced a mountain of civil and criminal cases in New York
However, in 2024 James’s office won the civil fraud case against former NRA leader Wayne LaPierre after a jury found he had misspent millions of dollars from the gun group.
James’s office fired back by stating: ‘We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers’ rights.’
Trump’s FBI is also probing whether the attorney general made false claims on her mortgage applications.
In a letter to sent DOJ Attorney General Pam Bondi back in April 2025, James’s attorney Abbe Lowell argued the mortgage filings were mistakes that were later corrected by her client on other forms.
