New York Attorney General Letitia James has entered a not-guilty plea to federal mortgage fraud charges in a contentious case pushed by United States President Donald Trump.
On Friday, James appeared in court for the first time after the Trump administration accused her of misrepresenting a property investment to get more favourable loans.
She faces one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution, both of which carry a maximum of 30 years in prison.
Her hearing on Friday was held before a federal court in Norfolk, Virginia. When asked for her plea, James responded, “Not guilty, judge, to both counts.”
Her trial is set to begin on January 26.
Speaking to supporters afterwards outside the courtroom, James characterised the case as President Trump’s attempt to wield the legal system against his political rivals.
She is the third Trump critic, after former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey and ex-national security adviser John Bolton, to face criminal charges over the past month.
“This is not about me. This is about all of us — and a justice system which has been weaponised, a justice system that has been used as a tool for revenge,” James told the crowd outside the courtroom.
Paraphrasing the Bible, she reaffirmed her belief that justice will prevail.
“There’s no fear today. No fear, no fear,” she said, leading the crowd in a chant. “Because I believe that justice will rain down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
She was indicted by a grand jury earlier this month.
The attorney general has long been a target of President Trump’s ire for years, stretching back to his first term.
When James campaigned for her role as New York’s top prosecutor in 2018, she denounced Trump as an “illegitimate president”.
Later, in her role as attorney general, she brought a successful civil case against Trump, alleging that he had defrauded banks and investors by substantially overstating his assets.
In February 2024, a judge initially ordered Trump to pay $355m in damages as a result of the case, though that sum has since been thrown out as excessive.
Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has described that case, and the others he has faced, as politically motivated.
When Trump returned to office in January for a second term, critics feared he might use the power of his post to exact retribution against his perceived adversaries.
On September 20, he publicly called on the Department of Justice to take action against James, Comey and a third individual, Senator Adam Schiff of California, who has yet to be indicted.
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote on his online platform, Truth Social, in a message directed to Attorney General Pam Bondi. “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
Comey was indicted five days later, on September 25.
Leading up to the indictments, a longtime prosecutor named Erik Siebert was fired after he reportedly cast doubt on the merits of the cases against Comey and James.
He was replaced by Lindsey Halligan, a former White House aide in the Trump administration with no background as a federal prosecutor.
James’s lawyers have said that they will contest Halligan’s appointment. Halligan personally signed the indictments against both James and Comey, a fairly unusual practice for a high-ranking US attorney.
The allegations in Friday’s case focus on James’s purchase of a home in Virginia. The Trump Department of Justice has argued that James said she would use the house as a secondary residence, when instead she rented it out.
That, prosecutors said, allowed her to obtain a more favourable mortgage rate.
James, however, has called the charges “nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponisation of our justice system”.
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