AlterNet
Despite President Donald Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ) promising to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), a Virginia grand jury has declined to return an indictment.
CNN reported Thursday that despite a judge dismissing the criminal charges against James just 10 days ago, the DOJ's latest attempt to re-indict New York's top law enforcement official has failed. Prosecutors have been attempting to indict James on charges of mortgage fraud after Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue James and other political opponents.
"It's said that you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Well, apparently the Trump people can't do that," CNN host Jake Tapper quipped, before pivoting to CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins.
"They made clear when [James' case was dismissed] that they were going to try this again. But today, Jake, they have failed and did not secure a new indictment against the New York attorney general, despite their best efforts," Collins said.
Collins pointed out that her sources warned against "premature celebrations," which she said indicated that there may be a third attempt to bring charges against James. She noted, however, that convincing a majority of grand jurors to return an indictment is considered "generally a pretty low bar" and that the Trump administration's failure to do so suggested that indicting James would be an uphill battle.
"This is certainly a blow to their efforts, as the president has made clear that he wants charges pursued here. He wants this investigation to continue," Collins said. "Yet time and time again, ever since the beginning of this indictment, when it first happened, we have seen them continuing to face roadblocks here."
Collins further reported that requests to both the DOJ and to James' attorneys were not immediately returned.
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