Jonathan Turley on Criminal Referral Against AG Letitia James for Mortgage Fraud

Criminal Referral for Mortgage Fraud

• 🎯 The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has sent a criminal referral to the DOJ concerning New York Attorney General Letitia James.
• 💡 The referral alleges mortgage fraud, specifically that James may have falsified records to obtain favorable loan terms.
• 📌 Allegations include misrepresenting a property in Virginia as her principal residence and misstating the number of units in a New York property to qualify for a different loan.

Legal and Ethical Implications

• ⚖️ Jonathan Turley highlights the irony of the situation, given James's previous prosecution of Donald Trump on charges including making false statements to financial institutions.
• 🔍 Turley notes that the alleged actions fall under federal statutes (like Section 1014) that the DOJ has prosecuted before, involving false claims about principal residences.
• ⚠️ The Supreme Court's ruling in Thompson requires knowing false statements, which Turley believes these allegations could satisfy, as they are not merely misleading.

Defense and Counterarguments

• ❓ It is noted that James has not yet responded to the allegations, and the DOJ has offered no comment on the referral.
• 🗣️ Turley questions how James's defense could proceed unless they admit the documents were fraudulent, especially given her own legal standards applied in the Trump case.
• 🏛️ The referral cites the case of former Baltimore City prosecutor Marilyn Mosby, who faced consequences for similar financial misrepresentations.

Political Context and Timing

• ⚡ Turley acknowledges the potential for Democrats to frame this as a "revenge presidency" or weaponization of the DOJ.
• ⏳ However, he points out that James herself rejected similar arguments when pursuing her case against Trump.
• 📉 The timing of this referral is considered poor for James, especially as she awaits an appellate decision in her case against Trump, with expectations that the ruling may not be favorable.