Letitia James pleaded not guilty to fraud charges during a brief appearance inside a federal courthouse in Virginia, where an inexperienced former personal attorney to Donald Trump has launched a criminal prosecution of New York’s Democratic attorney general after the president demanded it.
A two-count indictment accuses James of bank fraud and making false statements in connection with a loan for a property she purchased in 2020.
“Not guilty to both counts,” she told the judge Friday.
A trial is tentatively scheduled to begin January 26, 2026 and could take up to five days with eight to 10 witnesses.
“This is not about me. This is about all of us, and about a justice system which has been weaponized [and] used as a tool of revenge,” she told supporters outside the courthouse in Norfolk following Friday’s hearing.
Trump’s Department of Justice has been used as a “weapon” and a “vehicle of retribution” against “those individuals who simply did their job and stood up for the rule of law,” she said.
James, beaming under the sunshine, addressed reporters and a crowd chanting “we stand with Tish” while a box truck circled the block with a banner featuring her face and the word “fearless.”
Protesters waved signs reading “defend democracy” and called on the Trump administration to stop “Putin-style show trials” against his political enemies.
Trump nominated his personal attorney Lindsey Halligan as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia last month after he boasted of “firing” the district’s top prosecutor, who had resisted pressure from the administration to prosecute James and former FBI director James Comey.
Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience, presented a case against Comey days after Trump’s demands, and she personally delivered evidence against James to a grand jury.
The indictment surrounds the attorney general’s purchase of a modest house in Norfolk, Virginia, where she has family. During the sale, she signed a standard document called a “second home rider” in which she agreed to keep the property primarily for her “personal use and enjoyment for at least one year,” unless the lender agreed otherwise.
Prosecutors alleged that James rented out the property to a family of three, rather than use it as a second residence, which then allegedly allowed James to obtain more favorable loan terms.
If convicted, James could face up to 30 years in prison per count, up to a $1 million fine on each count, and forfeiture of the property.
On Thursday, lawyers for James asked for a court order to block prosecutors from discussing the case with the media, after Halligan was revealed to have repeatedly sent messages about the case to a reporter for legal media organization Lawfare.
“The exchange was a stunning disclosure of internal government information,” lawyers for James wrote.
“It has been reported that Ms. Halligan has no prosecutorial experience whatsoever,” they added. “But all federal prosecutors are required to know and follow the rules governing their conduct from their first day on the job, and so any lack of experience cannot excuse their violation.”
James has been in the president’s crosshairs for years, after his real-estate empire was the subject of a sprawling investigation from her office into allegations of fraud inside the family business.
A New York judge ruled that Trump and his associates had illegally enriched themselves by defrauding banks and investors in a decade-long scheme to secure favorable financing terms for some of his brand-building properties — echoing the case that Trump’s Justice Department has since brought against James.
In August, a state appeals court determined that the crushing financial verdict against Trump from New York Justice Arthur Engoron — which has ballooned to more than $515 million, with growing interest — was “excessive.”
But the court upheld Engoron’s findings that the president and his business partners committed brazen fraud — a decision from appellate judges that fell well short of the vindication that the president sought through the courts to save him.
On Thursday, lawyers for James asked for an order prohibiting prosecutors from disclosing to the news media information about the investigation, or materials from the case, outside of court.
Last month, in a post on Truth Social that was apparently intended to be a private message to Attorney General Pam Bondi, the president complained that “nothing is being done” in the cases against James, Comey, and Senator Adam Schiff, who are “all guilty as hell,” according to Trump.
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote at the time. “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
The charges were expected, despite the recommendations from multiple prosecutors who argued there was insufficient evidence to land a successful conviction against James after a months-long investigation.
But Justice Department officials appeared to be caught off guard when they learned that Halligan, fresh off an indictment against Comey under similarly dubious circumstances, had already presented the case to a grand jury without their knowledge.
“As a matter of law, we will not discuss any grand jury matters with the media, but this Justice Department is united as one team in our mission to make America safe again,” Justice Department spokesman Chad Gilmartin said in a statement to The Independent last week.
“Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, along with the entire team at Main Justice continue to empower our U.S. Attorneys to pursue justice in every case,” he added.
