The Department of Justice has launched two new investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James and her office over her allegedly malicious targeting of political enemies.
The U.S. attorney in Albany, Daniel Hanlon, issued two subpoenas to James, the first one related to her office’s civil fraud case against President Trump, the New York Times reported. The Justice Department reportedly believes her prosecution of Trump violated his Constitutional rights.
The second subpoena is related to her office’s long-running effort to dissolve the National Rifle Association (NRA), according to the Times.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has signed off on the probes, and a there is a grand jury underway in New York’s state capital Albany, Fox News reported Friday.
“The DOJ Is going after James because she took then former president Donald Trump to court ‘simply because she didn’t like him and campaigned on getting him,'” Fox reported. The Justice Department reportedly believes James violated Trump’s First Amendment rights dealing with free speech.
James had accused Trump of inflating his net worth to get a good deal on loans and other financial benefits.
Trump-hating Judge Engoron ruled in her favor and ordered the Trump Organization to pay a $454 million bond, prompting George Washington University law Professor Jonathan Turley to call it “absurdly out of line with not just the purpose of the law but the facts of the case.”
A New York Appeals Court later reduced Trump’s bond to $175 million, which he paid on March 31, 2024.
Trump fumed against Engoron and James on Truth Social after he paid the bond.
“He is a whacked out nut job who just made up a number out of thin air, just like he did on the value of Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said. “Businesses won’t enter New York because of this decision, and many are fleeing. Think of it – I had to pay an enormous sum for the right to Appeal the ridiculous decision of a CROOKED Judge and A.G. This is Election Interference, and it all comes directly from Joe Biden and the White House. An attack, along with ALL OF THE OTHERS, on his political opponent, ME!”
After the 2024 election, James refused to drop the case, reasoning that presidents are not protected by immunity in civil cases.
Trump-connected GOP lawyer Mike Davis warned James back in November that if she continued her lawfare against Trump, “we will put your fat ass in prison.”
Davis made the stunning remarks during an appearance on conservative commentator Benny Johnson’s “Benny Show.”
“Let me just say this to big Tish James, the New York Attorney General,” Davis began. “I dare you—I dare you to try to continue the lawfare against President Trump in his second term because, listen here sweetheart, we’re not messing around this time and we will put your fat ass in prison for conspiracy against rights. I promise you that.”
“Think long and hard before you want to violate President Trump’s constitutional rights or any other American’s constitutional rights, sweetie. It’s not going to happen again, ” Davis added.
As of August 8, 2025, the civil case remained on appeal.
In March, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard formally revoked security clearances for James and dozens of other Democrat officials who weaponized the government to help Joe Biden or punish the regime’s political enemies.
In May, the Department of Justice launched a formal criminal investigation into James over mortgage fraud allegations involving her properties in Norfolk, Virginia and Brooklyn, New York.
Special prosecutor Ed Martin is investigating that case, as well as similar allegations against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). A grand jury in Virginia will investigate the mortgage fraud claims against James, and a grand jury in Maryland will investigate the allegations against Schiff.
An now, the Justice Department has launched a separate investigation into James over her political targeting of Trump.
James’s personal lawyer, Abbe Lowell, called the latest investigation “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.”
“Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration,” he said. “If prosecutors carry out this improper tactic and are genuinely interested in the truth, we are ready and waiting with facts and the law.”
Geoff Burgan, a spokesman for James, said: “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.”
Professor Turley, meanwhile, opined on X that he was “skeptical that such a prosecution could be sustained absent bombshell evidence uncovered by the grand jury.”
He added: “While the court was dead wrong, James prevailed in the case and that would be weighed in the balance.”