Federal prosecutors are expected to seek to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday in Norfolk, Va. on charges related to alleged mortgage fraud, according to a source with knowledge of the plans.
Now Roger Keller, a federal assistant U.S. attorney normally based in Missouri, is expected to present information before a grand jury regarding the allegations against James.
The effort comes after a federal judge last week dismissed the criminal indictments of both James and former FBI Director James Comey on the grounds that Lindsey Halligan was not lawfully appointed to her position as the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and lacked the authority to prosecute anyone in federal court. But Judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed the cases without prejudice, meaning the Department of Justice could conceivably bring charges again.
The cases against James and Comey have been plagued with factual and procedural problems since the start.
The same day as Currie’s Nov. 24 ruling, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the Justice Department would appeal the ruling, but that has not yet happened. According to multiple sources, top DOJ leaders have been debating their strongest path forward and concluded they must seek to re-indict both James and Comey.
Currie’s ruling hinted at a possible of statute of limitations issue with Comey, which could prevent a new indictment.
But the cases against James and Comey have been plagued with factual and procedural problems since the start. Career prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia concluded that both cases lacked sufficient factual basis to pursue criminal cases. Trump, who had pressed the Justice Department to charge his two political critics, threatened to fire the acting U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert when he resisted seeking both indictments.
In September, the president installed Halligan, an insurance lawyer and White House aide with no prosecutorial experience, as the acting U.S. attorney. Halligan then sought and obtained the indictments of first Comey and then James, after first firing a senior supervisory prosecutor in Norfolk who also objected to bringing the case against James.
Carol Leonnig is a senior investigative reporter with MS NOW.
Ken Dilanian is the justice and intelligence correspondent for MS NOW.