News broke yesterday that the DOJ had officially opened a criminal investigation into Letitia James’s more recent real estate transactions. Leftists immediately countered with the accusation that this investigation was no coincidence, and is nothing more than political retribution. They’re right that it’s not a coincidence, but they’re wrong about the retribution aspect. This is simply the rule of law in action (as the young woman who spat on Ed Martin is discovering, too).

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According to the WaPo, which carefully frames its essay to highlight the fact that James is the victim of politically motivated retribution, rather than a legitimate inquiry into the legality of her conduct.

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into real estate transactions involving New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to a person familiar with the case — the first known criminal probe of a law enforcement official who took action against President Donald Trump.

A grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia has issued subpoenas over a mortgage application in which James attested that she intended to make a single-family home in Norfolk her primary residence, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. James’s signature appears at the bottom of a two-page document granting power of attorney to her niece, Shamice Thompson-Hairston, to execute the purchase, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.

The WaPo reminds its readers that James has expended a lot of energy to destroy Trump, along with mentioning the judgment she got last year based on accusations that Trump committed fraud to get loans (never mind that the banks did their own due diligence, Trump paid back all the money plus interest, and the banks hoped to do business with Trump again).

Finally, the WaPo informs readers that the whole thing comes about because of “media reports,” implying that the case is ginned up:

The probe of James’s real estate dealings follows a criminal referral that William J. Pulte, Trump’s appointee as director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month. It alleges that James “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire government backed assistance and loans and more favorable loan terms.”

Citing “media reports,” Pulte accused James of lying on the 2023 loan document by saying the Norfolk house would be her principal residence even as she served as attorney general in New York. Pulte also alleged James misrepresented the number of units in a brownstone she’s owned in Brooklyn since 2001, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Post.

The implications behind this language track on James’s attorney, who has called the investigation political retribution:

However, what we’re seeing here isn’t a political hit job. It’s the rule of law in action, and it was initiated, not by a politician who ran on a promise to destroy someone (as James did with Trump), but by ordinary people doing the legwork to find evidence indicating that James may have committed fraud in connection with her various real estate holdings.

For some time now, private citizens have been combing through the documents associated with James’s myriad real estate holdings in New York and Virginia. Joe Gilbert has put together a helpful summary of what the documents show. Most of the acts are probably time-barred (although the clock on the statutes of limitations may have been stopped—or tolled—pending discovery of wrongdoing), but the pattern still matters:

In a 1983 mortgage filing, James identified herself as her father’s wife. Perhaps it was a mistake, but if it had been deliberate, it would have been fraud.

In 2008, James was listed along with two relatives as the people buying a foreclosed property in Virginia. However, within weeks, her name vanished from the Substitute Trustee’s Deed. Again, it could have been a mistake or deliberate, and if it had been deliberate, it was not only fraud but also violated James’s asset disclosure obligations when running for office.

In 2011, James obtained a government-backed loan to refinance a five-unit rental property in Brooklyn, but she mentioned only four units in her application. The difference in mortgage rates for a four-unit versus a five-unit commercial residential property is substantial. If she acted fraudulently, it’s a criminal act.

In 2013, James allegedly paid a non-profit for work on her campaign to be New York City Public Advocate. If that’s true, it constituted a campaign finance violation.

In 2023 (and this is well within any statute of limitations), James co-signed a mortgage with her niece for a property in Norfolk, Virginia. Under the accompanying notarized Power of Attorney, James stated, “I hereby declare that I intend to occupy this property as my principle residence.”

At the time, Letitia James was Attorney General of New York. New York has a residency requirement for its attorneys general—five years before running for office—which implies that it expects continued residency while in office. There’s also no indication that James has been living in Virginia during her tenure as New York’s AG.

Again, if James knew this statement was untrue when she made it, and she did so to obtain a more favorable mortgage rate...well, again, that’s the basis for a criminal fraud indictment—and, indeed, it is this transaction that is the main subject of the federal investigation.

What this also reveals is that it’s absolutely not a coincidence that James is being investigated for criminal fraud. By going after Trump, she angered ordinary citizens who took the time, made the effort, and spent the money to investigate her real estate transactions. Had she refrained from targeting Trump, they wouldn’t have been interested in her. However, it’s very important to note that the White House did not initiate these investigations.

But what really shows that the system works is that, upon being presented with evidence of fraud, along with other acts showing a pattern and practice of allegedly dishonest statements to obtain financial benefits, the DOJ is acting. Her being a black woman does not put her above the law. It’s that last fact that’s so revolutionary. In Trump’s America, no one, including a female black activist, can escape consequences for illegal actions. Moreover, she’ll be tried in Norfolk, which probably doesn’t have the ideological judges and jurors that make prosecutions so difficult in places like New York and D.C.

And for one more example of the system working—with a crime caught on video resulting in prosecution—the woman who spat on Ed Martin has been arrested and faces serious consequences: