(The Center Square) — The Justice Department has reportedly failed to secure a new indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James in a blow to the Trump administration's efforts to prosecute the top Democratic and vocal critic of the administration's policies.

A federal grand jury in Norfolk, Va., on Thursday declined to indict James after DOJ prosecutors reintroduced previously dismissed charges of mortgage fraud, multiple news outlets reported, citing sources familiar with the secret court proceedings.

The grand jury’s rejection comes after a federal judge dismissed an earlier indictment against James, ruling that Lindsey Halligan, the federal prosecutor handpicked by Trump to handle the case, had been unlawfully appointed.

James' attorney Abbe Lowell said the grand jury’s

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