ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) \u2014 A grand jury declined for a second time in a week to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday in another major blow to the Justice Department\u2019s efforts to prosecute the president\u2019s political opponents.<\/p>\n
The repeated failures amounted to a stunning rebuke of prosecutors\u2019 bid to resurrect a criminal case President Donald Trump pressured them to bring, and hinted at a growing public leeriness of the administration\u2019s retribution campaign.<\/p>\n
A grand jury rejection is an unusual circumstance in any case, but is especially stinging for a Justice Department that has been steadfast in its determination to seek revenge against Trump foes like James and former FBI Director James Comey<\/a>. On separate occasions, citizens have heard the government\u2019s evidence against James and have come away underwhelmed, unwilling to rubber-stamp what prosecutors have attempted to portray as a clear-cut criminal case.<\/p>\n A judge threw out the original indictments against James and Comey in November, ruling that the prosecutor who presented to the grand jury, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.<\/p>\n The Justice Department asked a grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, to return an indictment Thursday after a different grand jury in Norfolk last week refused to do so. The failure to secure an indictment was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to publicly discuss the case and spoke on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n It was not immediately clear Thursday whether prosecutors would try for a third time to seek a new indictment. One of the people familiar with the matter said prosecutors were still evaluating next steps and stood behind the charges.<\/p>\n A lawyer for James, who has denied any wrongdoing, said the \u201cunprecedented rejection makes even clearer that this case should never have seen the light of day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis case already has been a stain on this Department\u2019s reputation and raises troubling questions about its integrity,\u201d defense attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement. \u201cAny further attempt to revive these discredited charges would be a mockery of our system of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n James, a Democrat who infuriated Trump after his first term with a lawsuit alleging<\/a> that he built his business empire on lies about his wealth, was initially charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a home purchase in 2020.<\/p>\n During the sale, she signed a standard document called a \u201csecond home rider\u201d in which she agreed to keep the property primarily for her \u201cpersonal use and enjoyment for at least one year,\u201d unless the lender agreed otherwise. Rather than using the home as a second residence, prosecutors say James rented it out to a family of three, allowing her to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties.<\/p>\n Both the James and Comey cases were brought shortly after the administration installed Halligan, a former Trump lawyer with no prior prosecutorial experience, as U.S. attorney amid public calls from the president to take action against his political opponents.<\/p>\n But U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie threw out the cases last month over the unconventional mechanism that the Trump administration employed to appoint Halligan. The judge dismissed them without prejudice, allowing the Justice Department to try to file the charges again.<\/p>\n