President Donald Trump’s criminal case against New York Attorney General Letitia James has been thoroughly challenged in a prosecution memo drafted by investigators who examined the case for months, ABC News reported on Thursday.
The controversy centers around a second home James purchased, which Trump’s housing finance director, Bill Pulte, alleged involved fraudulent statements on a mortgage application.
Initially, the experienced prosecutor leading the Eastern District of Virginia U.S. Attorney’s office declined to bring charges. Following this, Trump removed him and appointed partisan loyalist Lindsey Halligan. Halligan quickly took the case to a grand jury, resulting in an indictment.
However, according to the report, prosecutors identified significant issues with the charges from the outset. The memo concluded that “any financial benefit derived from her allegedly falsified mortgage would have amounted to approximately $800 in the year she purchased the home.”
Government lawyers also expressed concerns about the likelihood of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt. This was partly due to federal mortgage guidelines for second homes, which do not clearly define occupancy—a key element in the case, according to sources.
Adding to the controversy, Halligan fired Elizabeth Yusi, the career line prosecutor who drafted the critical memo, last week.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-letitia-james-2674227723/