NY Attorney General Letitia James ‘Heartened’ By Dismissal of Indictment

NEW YORK, New York – New York Attorney General Letitia James says she is “heartened” by the dismissal on Monday of the criminal cases against her and former Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) director, James Comey.

Letitia JamesUS District Judge , Justice Cameron Currie.in dismissing the cases, said that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump’s behest was illegally appointed by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“I am heartened by …the victory and grateful for the prayers and support I have received from around the country,” James told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), adding “I remain fearless in the face of these baseless charges, as I continue fighting for New Yorkers every single day”.

Judge Currie said that it was illegal to appoint two interim prosecutors consecutively, dismissing the charges against James and Comey without prejudice.

“It would mean the government could send any private citizen off the street — attorney or not — into the grand jury room to secure an indictment so long as the attorney general gives her approval after the fact. That cannot be the law,” the judge wrote.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed to appeal the judge’s ruling, telling reporters on Monday that she would adopt “all available legal action, including an immediate appeal.”

Last Friday, US House of Representatives Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) led an amicus brief in support of the defense of James in the face of what they regarded as “a blatantly biased and political prosecution by the Department of Justice, which is heeding the lawless demands of a president bent on vengeance, not justice”.

James and Comey were indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Jeffries and Schumer said James was “unjustly indicted in Eastern District of Virginia, by an unqualified pawn of President Trump, following pressure from the Trump administration and the president to go after his perceived ‘political enemies.’”

They noted that, in September, Trump, on his Truth Social medium, called James, “guilty as hell” and said that “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”.

“This statement is clear evidence of the vendetta President Trump holds after AG James led an investigation of the then-former president’s company, the Trump Organization, leading to a civil fraud judgment against Trump last year,” Jeffries and Schumer said in their brief, adding that “just over two weeks after his Truth Social post, AG James was indicted in Virginia”.

Jeffries, who represents the 8th Congressional District in New York, later told CMC that “Trump has corruptly weaponized the criminal justice system into his own personal retribution service, and he continues to disgrace the presidency and the country by violating the law with reckless abandon.

“The prosecution of Attorney General Tish James has no legitimate basis in law or fact and was brought by a woefully incompetent political hack. The American people are not fooled by Trump’s shameful attempt to bend the Department of Justice to his will. It will not stand.”

Schumer said the political witch hunt is “an unfortunate representation of the Trump administration – vindictive, contemptuous of the rule of law, and corrupt.

“After one US attorney rejected this case, Trump handpicked an unqualified crony to go forward with the investigation and prosecution. This is not justice – it’s revenge,” he added.

“Every American – and court of law – should soundly reject this alarming lurch into authoritarianism and President Trump’s clear decision to use the Justice Department as his own partisan attack dog. No one is above the law. And no one should be able to pervert it for their benefit.”

Caribbean-American legislators in New York had expressed profound outrage over the Trump-directed indictment of James on one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution in connection with her purchase of a property in Norfolk, Virginia.

The charges came two weeks after Trump sought the indictment of Comey.

“This is a vindictive and unjust prosecution, led by a compromised and Donald Trump, a convicted felon, because Attorney General Tish (Letitia) James had the courage to expose Trump’s lies and hold him accountable for his fraudulent conduct,” New York State Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the Haitian-American chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, told  reporters outside the New York County Courthouse in lower Manhattan

“Tish James is a fearless and principled leader who has consistently demonstrated her commitment to justice, defending the rule of law, and protecting the people of New York,” added Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who represents the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn.

“We stand with Tish James and have her back, and we will not be silent as she is attacked for doing her job,” Bichotte Hermelyn pledged at the press conference that she organized in collaboration with Democratic New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Bichotte Hermelyn was also part of a city-wide delegation of women of colour leaders, referred to as the “sisterhood” by New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants, told CMC that “Trump has been blatant about his goals – to weaponize the federal government against the people brave enough to stand up to him.

“Now, he’s invented a reason to come after the highest-ranking Black woman in the state, where he was convicted of 34 felonies and civil fraud,” said Williams, who succeeded James as New York City Public Advocate.

James had resigned that position after sworn in as New York Attorney General.

“The Attorney General is dedicated to the people she serves and the pursuit of justice – two things that put her at odds with Donald Trump, the convicted felon authoritarian in the White House,” Williams said.

Brooklyn Borough President, Antonio Reynoso, the son of Dominican Republic immigrants, said: “no one fears Attorney General Tish James more than Donald Trump himself – and for good reason.

“Where Donald Trump is corrupt, tyrannical, and at the mercy of his own cowardice, Attorney General James is principled, compassionate, and unrelenting in her pursuit of fair and honest justice for the people of New York,” he said.

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, described as a “sham” James’s indictment.

“Let me be clear: this accusation, like the man who ordered it, is a sham,” Clarke, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, told CMC.

“The American people know it. The US Attorney whom Donald Trump forced to resign for refusing to carry out this case knows it. Even the president’s hand-picked attorney leading this case knows it.

“But she, like every other instrument of the Trump regime, would rather abide by the president’s good graces than the United States Constitution,” added the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

“While I am utterly disturbed by this unjustifiable and baseless attack against Attorney General James, I am not at all surprised by it”.