Trump official urges criminal probe of N.Y. attorney general

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Norfolk, Va. (AP) – In the summer of 2023, New York Attorney General Letitia James helped her niece buy a modest home in Norfolk, Va.

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A top housing official in the Trump administration has now seized on a document in the deal, believing that James should be sued for bank fraud, demanding that the U.S. Department of Justice open a criminal investigation to the Democrats in a letter.

The inquiry is demanded because the administration has retaliated against President Donald Trump’s long-standing enemy in the legal world. James won a $454 million verdict against Trump in a lawsuit last year, claiming he lied about the value of his assets and the value of the bank’s financial statements.

James called the allegations against her “bareless”.

“It’s nothing more than the title, retaliation for all my successful actions against Donald Trump,” she said in an interview on CNY1 on Wednesday.

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In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 14, Federal Housing Finance Director William Pulte quoted a “media report” saying James mistakenly listed it as a Virginia home as her primary residence, which he believes is to avoid higher rates on paying mortgages on a second home.

As evidence, Poulter cited the legal form that James signed on August 17, 2023, where she gave niece Shamice Thompson-Hairston, the right to sign documents related to the sale two weeks later. These forms are required when people involved in the purchase of the home cannot attend the closure.

The form includes a statement: “I hereby announce that I intend to use this property as my primary residence.”

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“Ms James is the site general for New York when VA property purchases and mortgages are purchased in Norfolk in 2023 and the law requires her primary residence in New York State, even if her mortgage application lists her mortgage application, she intends to use Virginia property in Virginia as her primary residence,” Pulte asked a Ford in the letter.

However, James’ office shared a partial copy of the loan application, which she seemed to reveal she did not intend to live in Virginia.

During the application, James was asked a question: “Will you occupy the property with your primary residence?” She checked the box that said “no”.

“Donald Trump’s weaponization of the federal government continues to get out of control, and now they are using cherry picking information to attack the Attorney General,” her office said in a statement.

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In another part of the loan application, James said she is applying for joint credit with Thompson Hairston, who intends to use the home as her primary residence. Such arrangements are not uncommon among family members, for example, when parents help their children purchase a home.

Real estate lawyers who spoke with the Associated Press said that based on the limited number of documents available publicly, whether any inappropriate documents have occurred or whether James tried to deceive anyone where she intended to live. A Virginia lawyer told the Associated Press that he had never met a law firm and had previously mentioned his primary residence.

Bondy said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday that her office will review Pulte’s letter.

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Review of Brooklyn Townhouses

Poulter also accused James of the number of apartments in New York City townhouses that he has owned since 2001.

Pulte’s letter cited a certificate of occupancy issued to previous owners, which authorized up to five living units in the Brooklyn building, where James lived and had rented apartments from some tenants. Multiple other city records show that the townhouse has four units.

James noted in the building permit application and mortgage documents that the building has four units. Past news articles about the building also call it four units.

Pulte speculated that James misrepresented the number of units to qualify for federally supported mortgages, thus preventing interest rates for building owners who own more than four units.

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Experts in New York real estate say that when properties change hands, differences in the number of units in a building are not uncommon, and regulators are usually only reviewed when changes allow owners to gain some undue advantage, such as cracking down on rent regulations.

“From five to four units for regulatory and revenue-generating purposes, it didn’t really help her,” said Andrew Scherer, a professor at the New York Law School. “This difference seems very legally impossible.”

James’s office said the building had four units, noting that the occupancy certificate listed it as ownership of five possessions.

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City inspection found no infringement

Starting in July 2023, shortly before Trump’s civil fraud trial began, buildings in the city began receiving anonymous complaints claiming that James had illegally classified the property.

“Why she was not prosecuted for fraud and filled in other people’s crimes that were much less crimes,” one complaint wrote.

Inspectors from the city’s construction department found no violations. In Wednesday’s latest visit, an inspection report determined that the complaint was “unverified based on departmental records.”

Trump’s lawyer appealed James’s verdict against him. The president said he did not mislead anyone’s property value.

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