James was indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia on one count after a mortgage fraud investigation.
James' office had no immediate comment Thursday.
According to a Fox News story, Federal Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte has alleged James could have engaged in mortgage fraud by making false or misleading statements on property records, like a loan application that said her property in Virginia is her primary residence; a building record stating her multifamily Brooklyn property incorrectly has five residences instead of four; and a mortgage application that falsely stated James was her father’s spouse.
The indictment came two weeks after a separate criminal case charging former FBI Director James Comey with lying to Congress, the latest indication the Trump administration is using the Justice Department to pursue the president’s political foes who have investigated him and his allies.
Using her attorney general's office, James oversaw a lawsuit accusing Trump of defrauding banks by dramatically overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements.
James famously stated "no one is above the law" when she pursued Trump in court.
An appeals court overturned the fine, which had ballooned to more than $500 million with interest, but upheld a lower court’s finding that Trump had committed fraud.
Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide who was once Trump’s personal lawyer, presented the case to the grand jury herself, as she did in the case against Comey, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Trump has been advocating charging James for months, posting on social media that she’s “guilty as hell” and telling reporters at the White House, “It looks to me like she’s really guilty of something, but I really don’t know.”
James, a second-term Democrat, has denied wrongdoing. She has said that she made an error while filling out a form related to the home purchase but says she quickly rectified it and didn’t deceive the lender.
However, among the possible crimes alleged by Pulte are wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, and making false statements to a financial institution.
Allegations the New York attorney general committed years of fraud began with website White Collar Fraud, an investigative website, in April.
