NY AG Letitia James Indicted by Trump DOJ Prosecutor

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0:37Michael Popok:We've got some breaking and disturbing news coming out of the Trump administration and its Department of Justice. It appears that Lindsey Halligan, the handpicked insta-prosecutor for Donald Trump, who's been a prosecutor for all of less than two weeks, has somehow obtained an indictment against the New York Attorney General Letitia James for mortgage fraud in Virginia. These are the very charges that were rejected by a real prosecutor, the head of the major crimes unit within the Eastern District of Virginia, Elizabeth Yussi, just 72 hours ago. She let it leak or it leaked out that she was not going to recommend that there was at least probable cause to believe that a conviction could be sustained against Letitia James, Donald Trump's arch enemy, I mean, self-proclaimed arch enemy on his end for mortgage fraud.

1:25Michael Popok:And under the principles of federal prosecution or the Department of Justice manual, you cannot do what Lindsay Halligan just did. She's putting her law license at risk. She is letting her what's supposed to be independent exercise of judgment be compromised by her client, her boss, Donald Trump, who's ordered that Letitia James be prosecuted and indicted, and now she has been. We all remember the social media post that Donald Trump put up in less than the last two weeks. Come on, Pam. We're running out of time. Indict Letitia James. What time are we running out of other than his political horizon?

2:04Michael Popok:And now we've got this new reporting. I'm Michael Popak. You're on the Midas Touch Network and Legal AF, right where you want to be for this fast-moving story. So fast moving. We don't even have a copy of the indictment yet. This is coming out of reporting from people hanging around, reporters hanging around the grand jury, knowing that there's a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, seeing Lindsey Halgan go in and wondering what that was all about. And now we know. Later, I will have updated information about the terms of the indictment, but I can give you with reasonable confidence what I think that indictment is going to look like and the charges.

2:36Michael Popok:And then when we get the indictment, after it's been delivered to a magistrate. We'll come back on here or on Legal AF Substack Live and give you the report there. Letitia James and Donald Trump. Donald Trump has been battling it out with Letitia James for years. Letitia James obtained successfully a$468 million civil fraud judgment against Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, and all the Trump kids for persistent fraud in the operation of the Trump Organization. Now, while the amount of the fraud is up for grabs and an appeal, the fraud has been affirmed by at least one level of appellate court in New York just recently.

3:18Michael Popok:In addition, she has obtained and there still is a monitor, a monitor over Donald Trump's affairs and his business operations, a former federal judge in Barbara Jones. That's all Letitia James. Do you see how this is vindictive prosecution? Do you see how this is retaliatory for her having successfully proved him to be a fraudster, lying about his net worth, lying about his wealth, lying about his business records? And she was involved, although not directly, with two other criminal prosecutions of Donald Trump led by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. But the New York Attorney General and the Manhattan DA worked hand in glove on these cases.

3:59Michael Popok:And Halvin Bragg got two different indictments and convictions against Donald Trump. 34 count felony conviction for the Stormy Daniels cover up and business record fraud and 19 count conviction related to two of his business operations for also fraud. So he blames Letitia James for all of this. Now, what the claims are going to be about is we've already heard, because they let it leak a month or so ago, that they were going to open up mortgage fraud cases based on phony allegations made by Bill Pulte, who's Donald Trump's hitman, inside the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage liquidity entities.

4:40Michael Popok:He's the Nepo baby son of a wealthy real estate family, the Pulte family, bought his way into that job and then made allegations against Adam Schiff and Letitia James and Lisa Cook with half-assed, half-baked information that they took out two mortgages that were both their primary principal residences and you can only have one and they must have defrauded the bank. Wrong. By the way, 20 % or more of Donald Trump's own cabinet has done the same thing because it's not mortgage fraud if the bank isn't defrauded. And for Letitia James, let's make this clear. Her title says it all. She's the New York attorney general.

5:20Michael Popok:What bank would be defrauded by giving her a loan for a Virginia home related to her father and thinking that was her primary residence? How is she going to do her job in New York? Nobody was defrauded. In fact, what we've heard from reports is that a niece of Letitia James had the power of attorney checked all the boxes for this investment property in Virginia. Maybe one of the boxes says principal residence. I don't know. But everybody knows she lives in New York. Just as same thing happened with Lisa Cook. No fraud, no intention, no criminal intent. But that's what the indictment is going to be on.

5:58Michael Popok:I'd be shocked if it wasn't. And that's why it's in the Eastern District of Virginia. Now we know why Lindsey Halligan was picked. Former number five runner up beauty queen. you know, Newsmax favorite, no federal court experience, no federal prosecutor experience, a former insurance defense lawyer. Now we know why she was picked. Why isn't any of this being done from Maine justice in New York, in Washington? Why isn't Todd Blanche prosecuting? Why isn't, well, Emil Bovey is no longer there. Why isn't Stan Woodward prosecuting? Why isn't Pam Bondi prosecuting? Why, there is no, there's no way they think Lindsay Halligan is going to get confirmed by the Senate as the U.S.

6:36Michael Popok:attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. That's the rush. Hurry up. Hurry up. Lindsay's got to bring this charge. And now this and of course, the timing. Think of the timing of this. The timing of this stinks. The timing is a day after they were embarrassed. Lindsay Halligan was embarrassed by the arraignment of the former FBI director, James Comey, where people in the room said she was rocking back and forth in her chair and nodding while letting two other prosecutors from North Carolina, they couldn't even get a career prosecutor from Virginia to go into the room with her. So based on that, right?

7:13Michael Popok:That's my Trump doctrine. You got a bad news cycle? Do something else. Letitia James, let's indict her. Try to grab the news cycle. Letitia James is tough. Letitia James didn't do anything wrong. And here's a clip of Letitia James fighting back. We know from the New York Times and other publications that you are on Donald Trump's adversary list and that he's quote unquote coming for you. The Federal Housing Finance Agency sent a criminal referral letter to the Department of Justice just last week saying that you falsified records about real estate properties you own and that you should be prosecuted for mortgage fraud.

7:51What do you say to those very serious allegations that Trump and team have lobbed against you, Attorney General. So, Arriba, it's great to see you, and it's an honor and a privilege to be on your podcast. And I basically, my response is, it's baseless. Listen, Donald Trump is on a revenge tour, and he finally got up to the J's. And so it's my time. And so the allegations are baseless. I'm not going to litigate them in the media. We will respond at the appropriate time and the appropriate fashion. I just want all of you to know that I, again, stand up each and every day to defend the rule of law and the Constitution and to do my job without fear and or without favor.

8:38And we will continue to make sure that we protect vulnerable and marginalized populations here in the great state of New York and all individuals, obviously, who love liberty.

8:49Michael Popok:So what's going to happen next? By the way, all of this stuff that's leaked out about Elizabeth Yussi, major crimes unit prosecutor, career prosecutor rejecting the indictment, is all going to be part of the evidence package that has to be delivered to Letitia James's lawyer, Abby Lowell. It's part of the Brady material. There's no proof of this. And now it's going to be assigned to another judge in the rocket docket of the Eastern District of Virginia. We're already going to trial on James Comey in less than three months. because it's such a BS case. And everything that Pat Fitzgerald is doing for Comey, attacking Elizabeth, attacking Lindsey Halligan as being illegally appointed as a U.S.

9:36Michael Popok:attorney, filing motions for abusive prosecution, vindictive prosecution and selective prosecution are going to be part and parcel of the firepower of Abby Lowell. He may not even wait till the arraignment. He may not even wait. He might have that on file the day of the arraignment. Because this should be dismissed and it should be stopped in its tracks by any federal judge. I don't care who appointed them because this is crooked. This is abuse of power. This is prosecutorial abuse and misconduct at the highest level. I just did a separate hot take analysis going up on Legal AF Now about Lindsay Halligan jeopardizing her law license.

10:18Michael Popok:She should never have taken this job for which she's not qualified. She's taken a job and allowed her independence to be compromised if she ever had it. And now we've got Letitia James. I'm not worried about Letitia James. I doubt that Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, is going to ask her to step down or take a leave of absence. Everybody sees this for what it's worth. Donald Trump going after his political enemies and using his Department of Justice as a weaponized partisan tool. And he found the willing tool in blind ambition of Lindsey Halligan. Nothing says blind ambition than Lindsey Halligan going, oh, I just did one grand jury last week.

10:58Michael Popok:I'll do one now. Yeah, let's see what this indictment looks like. The last one was replete with errors. The last one couldn't even get the numbering right between count one, count two, and count three. Couldn't even walk the grand jury through anything. Maybe she learned something. As soon as the indictment is delivered later today to a magistrate, we'll get our hands on it and talk about it. But I'm telling you, it's on this mortgage fraud issue because it's based in Virginia. And that's why we're talking about the Eastern District of Virginia. Wait till the federal judge sees Lindsey Halligan and some other loser from some other Department of Justice location outside of the Eastern District.

11:36Michael Popok:And the judge is wondering, where are all my U.S. attorneys that I know and love from the Eastern District of Virginia? Why am I seeing Lindsey Halligan in my courtroom? I mean, there's going to be a lot of arched eyebrows. Let's just put it that way. And we'll continue to follow it all right here. As it happens, in real time, rapid response, Midas Touch, Legal AF. Come over to Legal AF YouTube. We do 10 videos a day there. And as this story starts really taking off, I'll be doing probably our, every other hour, video lives on Legal AF Substack. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF?

12:13Michael Popok:Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes wear legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

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