A lawyer for New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, sent a lengthy letter to the Justice Department on Thursday, attacking President Trump for “improper political retribution” as the government scrutinizes her real estate transactions.
Abbe Lowell, a high-profile lawyer retained by the attorney general in recent days, was responding to a criminal referral letter sent to the Justice Department last week by Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Mr. Pulte’s letter focused on two houses that Ms. James owns in Virginia and New York. It said that she “appeared to have falsified records” related to the properties, which might have allowed her to receive favorable loan terms.
But Mr. Lowell, in his own letter to Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, said Mr. Pulte’s allegation lacked “any credible foundation.” He characterized them as “the next salvo in President Trump’s revenge tour against Attorney General James.”
“The stunning hypocrisy of President Trump’s complaint that the Justice Department had been ‘politicized’ and ‘weaponized’ against him is laid bare as he and others in his administration are now asking you to undertake the very same practice,” Mr. Lowell wrote to Ms. Bondi.
Mr. Lowell’s hiring is a sign that Ms. James is taking the threat against her seriously. Mr. Trump has promised retribution for his enemies and has eagerly promoted the claims against Ms. James. Mr. Trump’s allies, including his longtime adviser, Roger J. Stone Jr., boosted the claims online for weeks before Mr. Pulte included them in his letter.
Mr. Pulte’s accusations reflect, in miniature, Ms. James’s civil fraud case against Mr. Trump. In 2022, she sued him, accusing him of fraudulently overvaluing his properties by billions of dollars. She succeeded in a civil fraud trial, after which a judge penalized Mr. Trump close to half a billion dollars. The case is currently with an appeals court.
The Department of Justice, the White House and the Federal Housing Finance Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Lowell is representing Ms. James as a private citizen. Her office was previously represented by Paul Weiss, a law firm that struck a deal with Mr. Trump last month to avoid an executive order that could have hobbled it. Steven Banks, the lawyer at Paul Weiss who dealt with Ms. James’s office, is still representing the office, but recently left the firm.
Mr. Lowell has a long history of representing clients in politically sensitive investigations, including Hunter Biden, former Gov. George E. Pataki of New York, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Senator John Edwards of North Carolina. He has also represented the president’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
In his letter, Mr. Lowell noted instances in which Mr. Trump has called for revenge generally and attacked Ms. James specifically, including calling her a “monster” who is “willing to break every law in the book.” Mr. Lowell also reminded Ms. Bondi of her pledge during her confirmation hearing that “politics will not play a part” in her handling of the Justice Department.
Mr. Lowell then turned to the accusations against Ms. James.
In paperwork related to the Virginia house, Ms. James had indicated on a form giving her niece power-of-attorney that she would use the house as a principal residence. She has not done so, leading Mr. Stone and others to accuse her of mortgage fraud.
But in his letter to Ms. Bondi, Mr. Lowell noted that Ms. James had elsewhere indicated to the lender that she had no intention of using the property as a primary residence, information that the mortgage broker acknowledged explicitly. He included documents showing as much.
Virginia real estate lawyers interviewed by The New York Times have said that the power-of-attorney form would not be an issue as long as the lender was aware that Ms. James did not plan to use the house as a principal residence.
As for the New York house, Mr. Pulte and others accused Ms. James of misrepresenting the number of living units in the Brooklyn home, which they said could let her receive better interest rates. While a January 2001 certificate of occupancy said that the house had five units, Ms. James has consistently said it has four.
Mr. Lowell said that Ms. James has used the house as a four-person residence as long as she has lived there. He accused Mr. Pulte of ignoring other official records that list it as a four-unit property and attached those to his letter.
The New York City Department of Buildings began to receive complaints about the number of units in the property a month before Ms. James took Mr. Trump to trial. The department has not punished Ms. James and has classified the confusion over the number of units there as a “minor error.”
READ more
Source link
