Politics
NY Dems Caught Sneaking In ‘Letitia Loophole’ Forcing Taxpayers To Foot AG’s Legal Bills
New York lawmakers this week quietly unveiled a state budget that earmarks millions of dollars toward a legal defense fund, which critics claim is a carve-out meant to benefit Attorney General Letitia James, who is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Trump administration into allegations of mortgage fraud.
In the state Assembly, where Democrats hold a supermajority, a draft of next fiscal year’s budget allocates $10 million toward “any reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred” from legal action brought by the federal government — even if the action is not related to their official, public role.
The distinction is important in the case of James, who stands accused of falsifying home loan documents on several properties in order to obtain more favorable terms. James has denied the allegations, but on Thursday, it became known that the FBI and local U.S. attorney’s office have partnered to probe her 2023 purchase of a Virginia property, which she stated was her primary homestead.
Multiple sources familiar with the budget process told the NY Post that the provision would apply to James’s case.
Ed Cox, chair of the state Republican Party, lashed out upon news of the deal, calling it a “bailout” for James and an “outrageous abuse of power and a slap in the face to every New Yorker.”
“This is what corruption looks like in plain sight: political insiders rigging the system to protect their own, while hardworking families get shortchanged,” he said in a statement.
“Tish James used her office to wage partisan lawfare against her political opponents, and now New Yorkers are footing the bill for the consequences.”
Under current state law, public employees can be reimbursed for legal expenses incurred while defending themselves from lawsuits. The bounds of the current law were famously tested in 2021 when former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace but billed the state for $60 million in expenses related to parrying legal accusations of sexual harassment.
However, the latest iteration of the law, if enacted, references public employees who are targeted with “discriminatory or retaliatory treatment” by the feds, a not-so-veiled reference to President Donald Trump.
Any “legally compulsive process” that began after January 1, 2025, would be covered, meaning any suit or criminal charges brought after Trump took office.
The bill would cover “obtained representation by private counsel in response to any request, summons, command, subpoena, warrant, investigative interview or document request, audit or legally compulsive process” stemming from a federal investigation of a public employee, the Post adds.
James, who famously declared that “no one is above the law” while prosecuting Trump for allegedly falsifying real estate transactions, is now ironically on her way to becoming a defendant in a very similar case, albeit concerning properties worth far less than the lavish Mar-a-Lago.
In recent public appearances, James has sounded defiant while accusing the White House of weaponizing the Justice Department to target her for prosecuting Trump. She has referred to the investigation as one leg in his “revenge tour” and vowed not to back down.
“Donald Trump promised a vicious revenge tour when he ran in 2024, and he’s put Attorney General James at the top of his list, and we’re ready to respond to these attacks,” her rep told the outlet in response to news of the legislation.
