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A veteran federal prosecutor in Virginia has told her colleagues that she lacks confidence there is probable cause to pursue mortgage fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, per a source knowledgeable about the situation.

The prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, who oversees significant prosecutions in the Norfolk office for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, intends to soon present her conclusion to Lindsey Halligan, a ally of the former president who was appointed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia recently.

The Justice Department offered no statement on the matter. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia also ignored a request for comment.

Significant Dispute Between Department of Justice and Trump

This case marks another notable confrontation between the Justice Department and Trump, who has previously removed attorneys who declined to take action against his critics. Halligan, who possesses no prosecutorial experience, was appointed to the role at the urging of Trump after her preceding attorney concluded there was no probable cause to file criminal charges against James Comey, the former FBI director.

Trump has openly urged the U.S. Attorney General to charge James, who led a civil fraud case against the ex-president that resulted in a half-billion dollar fine, though the decision was later overturned by a New York state appellate court.

Mortgage Fraud Accusations and Investigation

William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head and a staunch Trump ally, made a legal complaint against James to the Justice Department in April, alleging she may have committed mortgage fraud. Pulte cited mortgage documents related to a 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home that James helped purchase for her niece, in which James suggested on a document that she planned to occupy the home as her principal dwelling. James was serving as the Attorney General of New York at the time.

Prosecutors formed a grand jury in May to look into the matter but struggled building a case against James, despite demands from Trump allies. Emails from the time of the home purchase and additional mortgage documents show James clearly indicating that she did not mean for the home to be her primary residence. This evidence poses a challenge for prosecutors to prove that James intentionally misled on the mortgage documents.

Recent Shake-Up in Prosecutorial Unit

Multiple prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have either been fired or stepped down in recent weeks as Trump has increased pressure on the office to bring charges against Comey and James.

Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor, stepped down on September 19 after experiencing pressure from Trump to file charges. Maya Song, a key deputy to Siebert, was also fired in late September. Michael Ben’Ary, a top national security prosecutor in the office, was also fired last week after inaccurate accusations from a pro-Trump media personality.

“The leadership is preoccupied with targeting the President’s perceived enemies than they are with safeguarding our national security,” he stated in his farewell letter to colleagues.

“Justice for Americans affected by our enemies should not be contingent on what someone in the Department of Justice encounters in their digital platforms that day.”