New York Attorney General Letitia James is fighting a federal criminal probe over alleged “selective enforcement” in cases she brought against President Donald Trump’s business and the National Rifle Association (NRA), court documents unsealed Friday reveal.
James’s effort to block subpoenas issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) touches “on matters of national concern, with implications that stretch well beyond this action,” Judge Lorna Schofield, an Obama appointee, wrote in her order making the filings public Friday.
“Unsealing this action is not only permissible but compelled,” the judge wrote. “One simple fact drives this conclusion: the information at issue is not secret.”
In August 2025, it was widely reported that acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York John A. Sarcone III issued subpoenas related to James’s civil fraud case against Trump and his company, along with her case against the National Rifle Association (NRA).
James was indicted in October in a separate mortgage fraud probe in Virginia, where she faces two charges for alleged bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution.
James’s opposition to the DOJ’s subpoenas centers on alleged “retaliation by the Executive Branch, issues of state sovereignty and the purported improper appointment of the Northern District’s Acting U.S. Attorney,” the judge wrote.
In an Oct. 15 motion, James’s attorneys stated Trump failed to press claims of “selective prosecution, retaliation, and bad faith” during his trial.
“Now that he has returned to the Oval Office and placed his personal lawyers at the highest levels of DOJ, President Trump is using the grand jury subpoena power to target the Office of the New York State Attorney General (‘OAG’),” attorneys for her office wrote in the unsealed filing. “In that way, the Executive Branch seeks to transform a personal grievance, which failed as civil claims, into a federal criminal prosecution—a plain and calculated campaign to harass a law enforcement agency that held Mr. Trump and his Organization to account.”
After suing Trump in 2022 for allegedly overvaluing his assets to secure more favorable loans, James secured a $454 million civil fraud judgement against him in February 2024. A New York appeals court tossed the half-billion-dollar penalty against him in August, calling it “excessive” while upholding the finding he committed fraud.
The DOJ’s citation of an opinion by a dissenting judge in that case who highlighted James’ political motives is not enough to justify a subpoena, James’s attorneys argued.
The DOJ’s argument heavily relies on a dissenting judge’s opinion highlighting James’s biased public statements against Trump and political motives in bringing the case, according to James’s motion. One dissenting judge’s view is not enough to support a subpoena, the attorneys argue.
Moreover, they claim the U.S. attorney’s “improper appointment invalidates the subpoenas.”
“The Executive Branch has repeatedly endeavored to give handpicked lawyers the vast powers of U.S. Attorneys without the inconvenience of Senate confirmation,” her attorneys wrote. “But Congress did not craft such a carefully constructed vacancy scheme only to allow the Attorney General to choose whomever she wants, whenever she wants, to serve as an acting or de facto U.S. Attorney.”
James is seeking to dismiss her mortgage fraud charges in Virginia by challenging the appointment of Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan.
Former FBI Director James Comey, who also faces charges brought by Halligan for allegedly lying to Congress and obstructing a Congressional investigation, is likewise challenging her appointment. Trump selected Halligan to fill the role just days before she indicted Comey.
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