So much abuse of power (so little time?):
A federal grand jury indicted Letitia James, the New York attorney general, for bank fraud on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Lindsey Halligan, the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, personally presented the case to the grand jury on Thursday, the person said. US attorneys do not typically present to a grand jury.
“This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system. He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York state attorney general,” James said in a recorded video statement on Thursday.
“These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost. The president’s actions are a grave violation of our constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties.”
Halligan was installed in the role last month after Donald Trump became frustrated with the pace of investigations against his rivals. “No one is above the law,” Halligan said in a statement. “The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust. The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”
The US president has made little secret of his desire to use the justice department to punish his rivals. “What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,” he said in a September post on Truth Social that was addressed to Pam Bondi, the US attorney general. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility.”
The move is Trump’s latest effort to weaponize the Department of Justice to punish political rivals. It comes two weeks after Halligan secured charges against James Comey, the former FBI director. Career prosecutors prepared a memo in that case outlining why charges were not warranted. Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday. [snip]
James attracted Trump’s ire after she led a civil fraud case against the president and his business that resulted in a $500m fine (the fine was recently overturned by an appellate court).
There has been considerable turmoil in the US attorneys office for the eastern district of Virginia in recent weeks. Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor, was removed from his post for failing to bring charges against Comey and James. Maya Song, one of his top deputies, was also fired. A third prosecutor, Michael Ben’Ary, who was not involved in the Comey case, was also fired after being targeted by Trump allies online.
William Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a staunch Trump ally, has made criminal referrals on mortgage issues against several Trump rivals, including James, the California senator Schiff, and the Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.
A selective, unwarranted prosecution by a hand- picked MF loyalist with no prosecutorial experience but one who's willing to follow orders. This pattern of abuse of the justice system to punish those who've stood against the Malignant Fascist or, as in James' case, prosecuted him for his crimes, is so far beyond the pale that it would be a scandal that would cause articles of impeachment to be filed if we didn't have a Congress controlled by a craven, soulless MAGAt Republican Party. The fact that James is a black, female Democrat who successfully prosecuted him for civil fraud certainly was extra motivation for the twisted MF to go after her.
What would stop Trump from simply announcing he had found people guilty by executive order? And then sending Government "contractors" to carry out " "sentencing "?
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