‘A big misunderstanding’: Letitia James pleads not guilty in fraud case
Letitia James, the Democrat attorney general in New York who campaigned for office on the claim she would “get” President Donald Trump, is claiming that she’s innocent in a mortgage fraud case federal prosecutors have brought against her.
A report at Fox confirms she was arraigned in Norfolk, Va., on Friday, submitting pleas of not guilty to felony counts of bank fraud and making false statements.
The charges come from her own actions and statements, including when she bought a home in Norfolk in 2020 when she allegedly misled a bank about the use of the residence in order to get better loan conditions.
She claimed it would be her secondary residence, but instead rented it out.
She’s accused of trying to benefit by a sum of about $19,000 through a lower interest rate.
The Daily Caller News Foundation documented the case as serious, and Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett explained how she incriminated herself.
A federal grand jury in Virginia delivered charges against her just days ago, after prosecutors led by Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan brought the case forward.
Jarrett said the charges appear to be justified.
“She’ll also claim, of course, ‘Oh, it’s a big misunderstanding, paperwork snafu, somebody else is to blame.’ But under her own stated standard in the Trump case, she declared that is never an excuse. So she’s hoisted on her own petard, as Shakespeare would say in Hamlet,” Jarrett said.
Jarrett said that the case against James rests squarely on the paperwork she personally executed.
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“It’s a pretty serious case against her, Sean. You cannot claim an occupied residence, get a lower mortgage rate, and then rent it out. You’re cheating the lender by lying, and James actually incriminated herself. Both her mortgage and her insurance documents said she occupied it, but on an IRS records form she admitted it was purely a rental with zero personal occupancy,” Jarrett said.
The DCNF reported Jarrett said James is now facing the same standards she once used against others, arguing that her own conduct left little room for defense.
“Well, it can’t be both. That’s illegal. Predictably, today she just whined that the law is being weaponized against her. Spare me the moral outrage. It was phony. She was the one who campaigned on the promise to get Trump, then conjured up that ludicrous case only to get slapped down by the appellate court in an epic embarrassment,” Jarrett said. “I think he or she’s going to do exactly what James Comey is doing, claim selective, vindictive prosecution, try to get the case dismissed, avoid trial entirely. But, you know, under the law the burden shifts to her to prove by clear evidence that the case has an unjustifiable motive.”
Additional James’ mortgage documentation also is at play, including when she allegedly listed her father as a “spouse” on a purchase agreement.
It was the Federal Housing Finance Agency that referred James to the Justice Department for the alleged crimes.
Letitia James is nervous after pleading not guilty to mortgage fraud: “I will not be te-deterred. And I will not, I will not be deterred.” pic.twitter.com/b0VBZt7k80
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) October 24, 2025
LOL! Nothing to see here, just Letitia James headed to court for mortgage fraud!
Karma is a BlTCH! pic.twitter.com/diKdpyPdfp
— Gunther Eagleman (@GuntherEagleman) October 23, 2025
“This is not about me. This is about all of us. And about a justice system which has been weaponized.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James delivered remarks to a cheering crowd after pleading not guilty to charges of alleged mortgage fraud. https://t.co/OiZNdL0IZ6 pic.twitter.com/vRCJL9cPx6
— ABC News (@ABC) October 24, 2025
James had orchestrated a civil fraud case against Trump and his companies, obtaining from a radicalized judge in New York a judgment that would have amounted to about half a billion dollars against Trump.
An appeals court threw it out.