James accused President Trump of “weaponizing” the justice system after her second federal prosecution failed.
Published December 5, 2025
A federal grand jury has rejected prosecutors’ attempt to reinstate a criminal case against New York Attorney General Letitia James after a judge previously dismissed charges against a prominent critic of US President Donald Trump.
Thursday’s indictment marks the second failed attempt by the Justice Department to prosecute Mr. James, a Democratic congressman against whom President Trump has vowed retaliation after filing a civil fraud case against Mr. James and his family business.
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In November, U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Curry dismissed the mortgage fraud case against James, finding that Lindsay Harrigan, the federal prosecutor who secured the indictment, was illegally appointed.
James argued that the attempt to prosecute her was overtly political. On Thursday, she again called the allegations against her “baseless” and called for “an end to the unchecked weaponization of our justice system.”
Her attorney, Abby Rowell, said any effort to continue the lawsuit would be “a shocking attack on the rule of law and a devastating blow to the integrity of our justice system.”
“The grand jury’s refusal to reindict Attorney General James is a decisive rejection of a case that should never have existed in the first place,” Lowell said in a statement.
Despite the grand jury’s decision, federal prosecutors still plan to seek new charges against James, Reuters reported, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
oath of revenge
After James’ office filed a civil suit against Trump, a judge in 2024 found that he had fraudulently inflated his net worth to mislead lenders and ordered him to pay a $450 million fine.
In August, the New York State Court of Appeals rejected the fine but upheld a judge’s finding that Trump was responsible for the fraud.
President Trump has repeatedly said the case was part of a political “witch hunt” against him, including four criminal cases that were dropped after his first term.
James is one of three prominent Trump critics to face federal criminal charges in recent months, along with former FBI Director James Comey and former Trump national security adviser John Bolton.
A lawsuit against Comey, who led the investigation into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016, was also dismissed by Judge Curry in late November, also citing Harrigan’s illegal appointment.
Mr. Bolton has pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing him of sharing classified government information with two relatives and keeping “papers, documents, and notes” containing classified material.
