The Justice Department this week abruptly escalated its pressure campaign on Letitia James, New York’s attorney general and one of President Trump’s longtime adversaries, opening a civil rights investigation into her office and appointing a special prosecutor to scrutinize her real estate dealings.
Taken together, the developments concerning Ms. James mark a stark escalation of Mr. Trump’s retribution campaign against one of his foremost nemeses and a remarkable use of Justice Department power to pursue a foe.
The civil rights investigation, which had not previously been reported, is examining whether Ms. James’s office violated Mr. Trump’s civil rights in its successful fraud suit against him, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
The acting U.S. attorney in Albany sent Ms. James’s office two subpoenas, one of which was related to the civil fraud case, which led to Mr. Trump being penalized more than half a billion dollars, including interest.
The second subpoena is related to the office’s long-running case against the National Rifle Association, the people said. Ms. James sued the organization in 2020, winning the ouster of its longtime leader, Wayne LaPierre, and sharply diminishing its power, which it had used on the president’s behalf.
Two of the people familiar with the matter said that the new subpoenas were part of a broader investigation to determine whether the office had violated the rights of Mr. Trump or others. It is a highly unusual use of a civil rights law more typically used to investigate potential racial, religious or sex discrimination, among other categories.
On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi also appointed Ed Martin — the far-right former interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. — as a special prosecutor to supervise an ongoing investigation into Ms. James’s real estate dealings, according to two people briefed on the move.
Ms. James’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, on Friday called the investigation related to the fraud case against Mr. Trump “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.” He added that the appointment of Mr. Martin “makes it crystal clear this is a manufactured investigation to pursue political retribution.”
The White House declined to answer a question about whether it was directing the investigations into Ms. James.
Mr. Martin is also investigating the real estate transactions of Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, another high-profile enemy whom Mr. Trump has singled out, the two people said.
A spokesman for Mr. Schiff did not immediately return a request for comment.
Ms. James has been one of Mr. Trump’s staunchest opponents since she first ran for attorney general in 2018, pledging to investigate him. Four years later, she sued him and his family business, accusing him of overvaluing his assets by billions of dollars. Mr. Trump lost the case and was penalized with the fine. The case is on appeal.
Geoff Burgan, a spokesman for Ms. James, said Friday: “We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers’ rights.”
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the developments. The acting U.S. attorney in Albany, John A. Sarcone III, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In addition to Mr. Lowell, who is representing Ms. James as her personal lawyer, Ms. James’s office has retained Steven Banks, formerly of the firm Paul Weiss, to defend its staff members.
The civil rights inquiry into Ms. James’s office reflects a strategy that has been championed by some of Mr. Trump’s supporters, who have argued that his Justice Department should pursue cases against those who investigated or prosecuted him.
They have suggested that a specific civil rights statute, which makes using law-enforcement authority to deprive a person of rights a crime, provides the grounds to do so.
Historically, the law has been used to prosecute police officers or prison guards who mistreat people based on their race, religion, sex, or national origin. The law, however, does not require that motive.
That is not the only unusual aspect of the inquiries into Ms. James.
This year, the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, confirmed that Ms. James’s personal real estate transactions were the subject of an investigation, a rare televised acknowledgment of a current inquiry by a federal law enforcement official.
That investigation has focused on whether Ms. James manipulated records related to homes in Brooklyn and Virginia to receive favorable loan terms. The allegations, which Mr. Lowell has called preposterous, resemble in miniature those that Ms. James pursued against Mr. Trump.
Ms. James ultimately convinced a judge that Mr. Trump had inflated the value of his properties on annual statements submitted to lenders, garnering hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains. Ms. James’s properties are valued at less than $2 million.
It had been unclear how — or whether — that inquiry was progressing, and Mr. Martin’s appointment adds an extra element of volatility.
Mr. Martin, a Missouri-based lawyer who represented some of the pro-Trump rioters who ransacked the U.S. Capitol, has suggested it is legitimate to investigate Trump adversaries simply to shame them.
In his brief stint as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, he thrust himself into national politics by leveling threats against Democrats and academic institutions. When Senate Republicans blocked his permanent nomination to the role, the White House found a job for him inside the Justice Department overseeing a “weaponization working group.”
That group was formed in February with the explicit mission of assessing Ms. James’s investigation into the president, as well as other law enforcement inquiries into Mr. Trump while he was out of office.
Mr. Sarcone, the U.S. attorney whose office sent the subpoenas to Ms. James, is also a Trump loyalist. He is one of several U.S. attorneys the Justice Department has installed using a circuitous legal procedure after judges and senators declined to appoint them permanently.
He has taken a strong stance against immigration and has inserted himself into the national culture war over the issue, railing against former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s policies.
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in the New York region for The Times. He is focused on political influence and its effect on the rule of law in the area’s federal and state courts.
Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.
Glenn Thrush covers the Department of Justice for The Times and has also written about gun violence, civil rights and conditions in the country’s jails and prisons.
Santul Nerkar is a Times reporter covering federal courts in Brooklyn.
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