Donald Trump knows how to keep his promises—at least when he wants to. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump promised to retaliate against his political opponents. He specifically targeted New York Attorney General Letitia James, the prosecutor who won a case against Trump and the Trump Organization. A judge found that Trump and his organization had inflated assets in financial documents to get better loan terms. (Trump is appealing the civil penalty.)
In November 2023, while the trial was happening, Trump posted on social media calling James’ prosecution a “ridiculous Political Witch Hunt against me” and wrote, “She should be prosecuted!” At a campaign rally in January 2024, he said the judge and James “should be arrested and punished accordingly.”
Trump seems determined to follow through on these threats, even though evidence does not clearly justify them.
NBC News reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed MAGA activist Ed Martin as a “special attorney” to investigate mortgage fraud claims against James. These claims were made by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William J. Pulte, a Trump nominee who took office in March. At the same time, The New York Times reported that John Sarcone III, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, sent two subpoenas to James’ office. The subpoenas seek to find out if she violated the rights of Trump, his businesses, and the National Rifle Association (NRA). James’ office had recently won a corruption case against the NRA after winning the fraud case against Trump and his organization. Sarcone’s office did not respond to the Times’ request for comment.
Both Martin and Sarcone lack proper experience for these roles. Before their appointments this year, neither had been a prosecutor. Sarcone, who is not confirmed by the Senate, incorrectly said a panel of federal judges extended his appointment. In reality, the panel rejected the extension, and the DOJ used a highly unusual method to keep him in the role. A letter from the DOJ’s human resources division says Sarcone is now “special attorney to the attorney general” indefinitely, while also serving as acting U.S. attorney and first assistant.
MAGA activist and election denier Ed Martin was so controversial that Republican senators refused to confirm him as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Even Trump’s calls to holdout senators didn’t help. Instead, Martin was made DOJ’s pardon attorney and director of Bondi’s “weaponization” working group, which targets officials who, following the law and court rules, have prosecuted Trump. Martin also represented some Jan. 6, pro-MAGA rioters.
‘A case of retribution’: DOJ launches investigation into office of New York AG, Sen. Schiff
Martin and Sarcone show a new trend in Trump’s DOJ: loyalty to Trump is more important than qualifications. Martin is considered the bigger threat to the rule of law, which requires treating similar cases the same and keeping partisan politics out of DOJ decisions.
Trump has said, “There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people. And if they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them.” He added, “In a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed.”
This seems to be what is happening in James’ case. If prosecutors can’t charge her, they aim to shame her—even though charges don’t seem justified.
The mortgage fraud claims allege James listed a Virginia home as her “principal residence” to get better loan terms. James’ lawyer told ABC News this accusation is “a lie based on a purposeful misreading of documents in a lawful real estate transaction.”
In a letter to Bondi in April, James’ attorney, Abbe D. Lowell, wrote that Director Pulte misread a document and ignored emails showing the property was meant to be her niece’s residence.
NY AG James’ attorney Abbe Lowell: Trump has turned the DOJ into the ‘Department of Weaponization’
Another claim says James misreported a five-unit Brooklyn property as four units to get better interest rates. Lowell countered that the home has always been a four-person residence and included public documents showing this.
If this were a normal investigation, the public might not even know about it. DOJ rules usually keep ongoing investigations private, but officials appear unconcerned.
News of a federal criminal referral first appeared in the New York Post in April and quickly spread across conservative media.
Trump’s DOJ actions follow a pattern similar to what happened during his first term. In December 2024, the DOJ inspector general found evidence that political motives influenced investigations of nursing home deaths during the pandemic. Most of the worst-ranked nursing homes were in Republican-led states, not Democratic-led states like New York or New Jersey.
The IG report even cited a DOJ official’s text saying: “I’m trying to get [CRT] and CIV to do letters to [New York/New Jersey] respectively on nursing homes. Would like to package them together and let [the New York Post] break it. Will be our last play on them before election but it’s a big one.”
Put simply, the DOJ was being used to attack political opponents, just like it seems to be doing now.
