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A veteran federal prosecutor in Virginia has advised her colleagues that she finds no basis there is sufficient evidence to pursue fraudulent mortgage charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, per a source knowledgeable about the situation.

The prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, who supervises major criminal cases in the Norfolk office for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, plans to shortly present her assessment to Lindsey Halligan, a ally of the former president who was appointed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in the previous month.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the matter. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia also did not return a request for comment.

Significant Dispute Between DOJ and Trump

This case signals another notable confrontation between the Justice Department and Trump, who has previously fired attorneys who resisted to prosecute his opponents. Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience, was appointed to the role following pressure from Trump after her predecessor concluded there was no legal basis to file criminal charges against James Comey, the ex- FBI director.

Trump has openly urged the U.S. Attorney General to charge James, who led a civil fraud case against the former president that resulted in a half-billion dollar fine, though the ruling was later overturned by a New York state appellate court.

Housing Fraud Accusations and Probe

William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head and a strong Trump ally, made a allegation against James to the Justice Department in April, alleging she may have committed mortgage fraud. Pulte cited mortgage documents related to a 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home that James helped purchase for her niece, in which James appeared to indicate on a document that she meant to reside in the home as her primary residence. James was acting as the Attorney General of New York at the time.

Prosecutors convened a grand jury in May to look into the matter but faced difficulties building a case against James, notwithstanding urging from Trump allies. Electronic correspondence from the time of the home purchase and other mortgage documents demonstrate James directly noting that she did not mean for the home to be her primary residence. This evidence poses a challenge for prosecutors to prove that James knowingly lied on the mortgage documents.

Recent Turnover in Prosecutorial Division

Multiple prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have either been fired or stepped down in recent weeks as Trump has increased pressure on the office to bring charges against Comey and James.

Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor, left his position on September 19 after facing pressure from Trump to file charges. Maya Song, a top deputy to Siebert, was also dismissed in late September. Michael Ben’Ary, a top national security prosecutor in the office, was also fired last week after unfounded accusations from a pro-Trump media personality.

“The leadership is more concerned with punishing the President’s political foes than they are with defending our national security,” he expressed in his farewell letter to colleagues.

“Justice for Americans killed and injured by our enemies should not be subject to what someone in the Department of Justice encounters in their social media feed that day.”