New York Democrats rallied around state Attorney General Letitia James after she was indicted in federal court.

The indictment, returned Oct. 9, alleges James committed bank fraud related to a mortgage in purchasing a Virginia home. President Donald Trump, whom James sued in 2022, called for her to face charges just weeks earlier.

James, a 66-year-old Brooklyn Democrat, said she was not afraid of what she called “baseless charges." Her allies in Albany, Washington, D.C, and New York City were equally forceful.

“What we're seeing today is nothing less than the weaponization of the Justice Department to punish those who hold the powerful accountable,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in an X post.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a fellow Democrat from Brooklyn, said James has “courageously been at the forefront of successfully challenging the Trump administration’s lawless and deeply unpopular over-reach.”

“At all times, she has followed the facts, applied the law and been guided by the Constitution,” Jeffries said in a statement.

'No one is above the law,' state GOP says

New York Republicans, meanwhile, echoed what U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, of the Eastern District of Virginia, stated while announcing the charges: “No one is above the law.”

“For years, Letitia James has illegally weaponized her office to conduct a political witch hunt against Democrats’ political opponents, most notably President Donald J. Trump,” said U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, an upstate New York Republican who is challenging Hochul for governor.

Three years earlier, James had sued Trump, his businesses, and some of his family, alleging they fraudulently inflated the value of his assets for better loan and insurance terms. A state judge agreed, ordering Trump to pay a penalty of around $454 million. A Manhattan-based appeals court found the penalties improper but kept certain business restrictions in place. James had appealed that decision.

In September, Erik Siebert, the former U.S. attorney for Virginia's eastern district, had reportedly concluded there wasn't enough evidence to bring charges against James. Siebert resigned after Trump called to remove him. Halligan, the president's former personal lawyer, soon replaced Siebert.

“This is what tyranny looks like,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Brooklyn Democrat, said in an X post. “President Trump is using the Justice Department as his personal attack dog, targeting Attorney General Tish James for the ‘crime’ of prosecuting him for fraud — and winning.”

NY Dems' response differs from Mayor Eric Adams' prosecution

The rush to defend James by fellow New York Democrats marked a stark contrast from another federal prosecution: that of New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

During the Biden administration, federal prosecutors in 2024 indicted Adams on corruption charges, which the mayor denied. Fellow Democrats called for his resignation, particularly after the Trump Justice Department intervened to dismiss the case.

Like James’ prosecution, federal prosecutors resigned over the case. But in Adams’ case, prosecutors resigned because of what they saw as a quid pro quo to drop criminal charges in exchange for Adams to assist on immigration enforcement. Adams has denied that there was any agreement to dismiss his case.

City Hall officials didn’t immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment on the James indictment.

Her indictment comes less than a month before the Nov. 4 New York City mayoral election. Adams recently dropped his long-shot re-election bid.

James had investigated independent mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo when the former Democratic governor was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women. A Cuomo campaign spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to an email request for comment.

State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, the presumed mayoral frontrunner and the Democratic nominee, stood by James’ side against what he called “baseless charges” for “political retribution.”

“The Attorney General has had our back, time and again,” he said in a statement. “We have hers.”

Contributing: Aysha Bagchi

Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New York Democrats rally around Letitia James after indictment, Trump pressure

Reporting by Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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