Letitia James, DOJ prosecutor in sealed battle over subpoena
New York Attorney General Letitia James is fighting a Justice Department investigation into some of her office’s most high-profile work by challenging the appointment of the Albany-based U.S. attorney overseeing the probes, two people familiar with the matter said.
The court battle, which is playing out under seal, centers on two subpoenas that federal prosecutors in the Northern District of New York served on James’s office earlier this year, according to the people familiar with the legal fight, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sealed proceedings.
The first subpoena sought information related to the successful civil fraud case James brought in 2022 against Donald Trump and his real estate empire, accusing them of defrauding lenders with outsize claims of his wealth. The second centered on litigation James pursued against the National Rifle Association, which led to a court-mandated restructuring of the organization.
James has urged a federal judge to quash both subpoenas, arguing that John A. Sarcone III, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who issued them, has been illegally serving in that job since this summer, according to the people familiar with the case.
The fight over the subpoenas is one of a lengthening list of court battles over whether to disqualify Trump-appointed acting U.S. attorneys who, like Sarcone, have remained in their roles despite deadlines limiting the length of their terms. The administration has used unusual bureaucratic maneuvers to keep some of its U.S. attorney picks on the job. In several recent cases, judges have said those moves violated federal laws and appeared designed to help controversial interim appointees avoid the Senate confirmation process, which is required for U.S. attorneys nominated for a full four-year term.
James has marshaled similar arguments to challenge the mortgage fraud case federal prosecutors are pursuing against her in Virginia. There, her lawyers have argued Trump unlawfully installed Lindsey Halligan, a handpicked loyalist, as U.S. attorney to ensure that James would be charged. A U.S. district judge has scheduled a Nov. 13 hearing on James’s motion.
A spokesperson for James declined to comment on her legal battle over subpoenas issued by Sarcone’s office. Neither the attorneys representing James in that fight nor a spokesperson for Sarcone’s office responded to requests for comment this week.
James—who campaigned for New York’s top law enforcement job in part on vows to hold Trump accountable—has decried the efforts of his Justice Department to target her with multiple investigations.
“This is not about me,” she told supporters outside the federal courthouse in Norfolk after her arraignment last week in the mortgage fraud case. “This is about all of us and a justice system which has been weaponized—a justice system which has been used as a tool of revenge and a weapon against those individuals who simply did their job and who stood up for the rule of law.”
Sarcone—like Halligan, the prosecutor in James’s mortgage fraud case—had no prior prosecutorial experience before Attorney General Pam Bondi named him in March as interim U.S. attorney, an appointment that by law is limited to 120 days.
His immediate previous job was as a regional administrator for the General Services Administration, which manages government-owned properties. His tenure as Albany’s top federal prosecutor been marked by several unusual incidents.
In June, he had his office issue a news release to announce that a knife-wielding undocumented immigrant from El Salvador had tried to kill him outside an Albany hotel. Surveillance footage later released by investigators showed the man did not come close to Sarcone with his weapon, and charges brought by local prosecutors were downgraded from attempted murder to a misdemeanor.
A month later, as Sarcone’s 120-day term neared its end, he told a local TV station that the federal judges in the Northern District of New York had extended his tenure through a process outlined in federal law. Within hours, the district’s judges issued a statement saying they had made no such decision, and days later, they opted not to reappoint him to his position but did not name a successor.
Justice Department officials then had Sarcone resign and reappointed him to the role of chief deputy in his office. They argued that because no one was serving in the office’s top job at that point, Sarcone could continue to lead the office.
The department deployed identical tactics to retain Alina Habba, Trump’s acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey; Sigal Chattah, its top prosecutor in Nevada; and Bill Essayli, the outspoken U.S. attorney in Los Angeles—all of whom judges have since ruled are unlawfully serving in their jobs.
But significantly, none of the judges have agreed to dismiss indictments or void other investigative steps taken by the U.S. attorneys’ offices headed by those appointees.
Details of Sarcone’s investigations into James’s office remain shrouded in secrecy.
James’s civil case against Trump’s organization has been a particularly intense grievance for the president. Last year, a New York state judge, siding with James, assessed a judgment resulting in more than $500 million in penalties plus interest. The judge found that Trump’s organization had purposely misrepresented the value of its properties and assets for years to secure more favorable loan and insurance rates.
A state appeals court voided those fines in August, calling them excessive, but left in place the lower court’s finding that Trump and others had committed fraud.
The subpoena from Sarcone’s office sought information as part of an investigation into whether James, in bringing that case, conspired to violate Trump’s civil rights, The Washington Post has reported.
In the Virginia mortgage fraud case, the Justice Department has alleged that James lied on a mortgage application for a home she purchased in Norfolk in 2020 to obtain more favorable loan terms.
She has denied the charges and, in her bid to disqualify the U.S. attorney there, argued that Trump engineered Halligan’s appointment to ensure the case moved forward despite objections from career prosecutors who said there was insufficient evidence to proceed.
Trump appointed Halligan as interim U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia after her predecessor, Erik S. Siebert, was forced out of the role, in part over his decision not to pursue charges against James. Because Siebert had already served for 120 days as interim U.S. attorney, the Justice Department should have been barred from appointing another interim U.S. attorney, James’s lawyers say.
See also:
Letitia James pleads not guilty in mortgage case Trump pushed
Justice Department indicts NY attorney general
Prosecutors push toward charging other Trump foes
Trump’s new demands on Justice Department raise alarm among prosecutors
Justice Department subpoenas Letitia James about Trump fraud probe
Justice Department is investigating NY attorney general who has targeted Trump
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