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A senior federal prosecutor in Virginia has told her colleagues that she lacks confidence there is legal grounds to pursue criminal mortgage fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, as reported by a source familiar with the situation.

The prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, who supervises major criminal cases in the Norfolk office for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, plans to imminently present her assessment to Lindsey Halligan, a Trump ally who was installed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia last month.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the matter. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia also did not return a request for comment.

Significant Confrontation Between DOJ and Trump

This case marks another major confrontation between the Justice Department and Trump, who has earlier removed attorneys who resisted to prosecute his critics. Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience, was selected to the role after requests by Trump after her predecessor concluded there was no probable cause to file criminal charges against James Comey, the ex- FBI director.

Trump has openly called for the U.S. Attorney General to prosecute James, who headed a civil fraud case against the former president that resulted in a $500 million fine, though the ruling was later overturned by a New York state appellate court.

Mortgage Fraud Allegations and Inquiry

William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head and a staunch Trump ally, made a criminal referral against James to the Justice Department in April, asserting she may have committed mortgage fraud. Pulte referenced mortgage documents associated with a 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home that James supported the acquisition of for her niece, in which James appeared to indicate on a document that she intended to use the home as her main home. James was acting as the Attorney General of New York at the time.

Prosecutors convened a grand jury in May to look into the matter but had trouble building a case against James, even with pressure from Trump allies. Electronic correspondence from the time of the home purchase and further mortgage documents demonstrate James clearly indicating that she did not mean for the home to be her primary residence. This evidence complicates efforts for prosecutors to prove that James knowingly lied on the mortgage documents.

Ongoing Turnover in Prosecutorial Division

Multiple prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have faced termination or left their posts in recent weeks as Trump has escalated pressure on the office to bring charges against Comey and James.

Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor, stepped down on September 19 after experiencing pressure from Trump to file charges. Maya Song, a key deputy to Siebert, was also fired in late September. Michael Ben’Ary, a prominent national security prosecutor in the office, was removed last week after inaccurate accusations from a pro-Trump media personality.

“The leadership is preoccupied with penalizing the President’s perceived enemies than they are with defending our national security,” he stated in his departure note to colleagues.

“Justice for Americans killed and injured by our enemies should not be dependent on what someone in the Department of Justice reads in their social media feed that day.”