a widening of the racial wealth gap between white and Black individuals<\/a>, even as income has increased for Black workers.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen you attack someone\u2019s home, you attack their ability to own, you attack their ability to have choice, you have attacked their ability to make a statement about their economic future,\u201d Arline-Bradley said. \u201cThis is a consistent pattern that has highlighted what they think is an Achilles\u2019 heel in the Black community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Black women, Arline-Bradley added, \u201cfeel very targeted\u201d because of the president\u2019s words and actions, which she said was rooted in \u201ca misunderstanding about the accomplishments and leadership of these women.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018One tier of justice for all Americans\u2019<\/p>\n
The Trump administration contends its prosecution of James over alleged mortgage fraud is justified and impartial.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one is above the law,\u201d Lindsey Halligan, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. \u201cThe charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public\u2019s trust. The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote, \u201cOne tier of justice for all Americans\u201d shortly after James\u2019 indictment in a post on X.<\/p>\n
Critics of the administration have countered that the administration\u2019s actions amount to political retribution and an attempt to unlawfully consolidate power. Black leaders have further argued that the administration\u2019s actions have come at the expense of trailblazing Black leaders and Black communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump has made clear through his own public comments against Attorney General James that the goal of this indictment is simply to exact retribution against his political opponents,\u201d Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe American people see this corrupt prosecution for what it is \u2014 a desperate attempt by President Trump to weaponize the justice system. It will not withstand public or legal scrutiny,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Case against James \u2018very uncommon,\u2019 legal expert says <\/p>\n
In addition to James, the Trump Justice Department has indicted former FBI Director James Comey for making a false statement and obstruction of justice related to a 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee testimony. <\/p>\n
The Justice Department is also investigating Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, for mortgage fraud. Trump has called for Schiff, who was the lead manager of Trump\u2019s first impeachment, to be jailed.<\/p>\n
Experts question the merits and motives of the mortgage fraud inquiries.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very uncommon for prosecutors to bring these sorts of claims absent a pattern of malicious activity or evidence that the individual has actually harmed the bank by not paying their mortgage or if it\u2019s part of a much larger fraudulent scheme,\u201d said Paul Schiff Berman, a professor of law at the George Washington University School of Law.<\/p>\n
For James, Berman said, \u201cthe claim is that she said that the house was going to be used as her second home but she also used it as a rental property sometimes,\u201d which Berman said could be argued as a reasonable use for a second home and likely not in violation of a typical mortgage contract.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the ensuing legal debates, allies of James say they are ready to support her in whatever manner is needed. Organizers at the New York conference say she is welcome to return to the event when ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we are responding in this moment, this is also happening to her, and so we want to give her space,\u201d said Williams, the New York NAACP leader. \u201cAnd the thing about home is you can always go there. So we know she\u2019ll always come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
____<\/p>\n
This story was updated to correct the spelling of Congressional Black Caucus chairperson\u2019s name. She is Yvette Clarke, not Yvette Clark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The coalition of New York NAACP chapters had just begun its annual state convention when…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":297151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[38853,3881,20148,16956,69,820,57,4228,49023,24980,133610,50417,47284,405,403,50,11335,80,2068,94,61,67,132,68,93,151597],"class_list":{"0":"post-297150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-adam-schiff","10":"tag-ap-top-news","11":"tag-black-experience","12":"tag-discrimination","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-fraud","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-indictments","17":"tag-james-comey","18":"tag-letitia-james","19":"tag-lindsey-halligan","20":"tag-lisa-cook","21":"tag-naacp","22":"tag-new-york","23":"tag-new-york-city","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-pam-bondi","26":"tag-politics","27":"tag-race-and-ethnicity","28":"tag-u-s-department-of-justice","29":"tag-u-s-news","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-us","33":"tag-washington-news","34":"tag-yvette-clarke"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115360983009314619","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}