The Justice Department, now led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, has opened a criminal investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of Donald Trump’s fiercest rivals.
Two years after James won a massive civil fraud case against Trump, federal prosecutors have issued subpoenas and convened a grand jury to look into whether she crossed the line while in office. The probe accuses James of “deprivation of rights,” a federal crime that involves a government official violating someone’s constitutional rights while acting in an official role.
🚨The DOJ has officially opened up a Grand Jury investigation of NY AG Letitia James for “Deprivation of Rights” where someone in a position of legal authority abuses their power
She campaigned on “getting Trump” and then maliciously prosecuted him for non-crimes
That’s illegal… pic.twitter.com/nCCxjYkAGX
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) August 8, 2025
Sources told The Daily Beast the case hinges on the argument that James campaigned for attorney general, promising to go after Trump, intending to jail him. That message became a rallying point for Trump’s MAGA supporters, who have long viewed James as one of the president’s top enemies. “Now the hunter becomes the hunted,” conservative commentator Rogan O’Handley, better known as DC Draino, posted on X after the news broke.
James has been at the center of Trump’s legal troubles for years. In 2022, she sued him for civil fraud, accusing him of inflating the value of his properties to secure better loans and insurance rates. A New York judge agreed, ordering Trump to pay more than $300 million. He’s appealing the ruling and insists the case was nothing more than a political hit job. “She’s a horrible, horrible human being, and I think she’s a total crook, there’s no question about it, but that’s just my opinion,” Trump said earlier this year.
James’s office says the new DOJ probe is just “weaponization of the justice system,” flipping back one of Trump’s favorite lines when he was under investigation.
🚨 BREAKING UPDATE: Letitia James is under criminal investigation for deprivation of rights after she TARGETED Trump for political purposes and violated his First Amendment rights
Subpoenas have been sent and grand jury empaneled
Tish was the HUNTER. She’s now THE HUNTED! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/NFbrsbdJSs
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 8, 2025
The investigation is being run out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, which is led by John A. Sarcone III, a Trump ally who landed the job without Senate confirmation. Federal judges initially blocked his appointment, but the DOJ gave him equivalent powers by naming him a “special attorney to the Attorney General.”
This isn’t the first time Bondi’s DOJ has gone after James. Back in May, the department opened a separate criminal investigation into allegations that she lied on mortgage paperwork to get better rates. That case began after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte sent a criminal referral, claiming James falsely said a Virginia home she bought with her niece would be her primary residence. Her attorney, Abbe Lowell, blasted it as “improper political retaliation” encouraged by Trump.
The DOJ is also reportedly reviewing her failed bid to dissolve the National Rifle Association. While she couldn’t shut it down, James did score a win in court against longtime NRA leader Wayne LaPierre, who was found to have misused millions of dollars in organization funds for personal expenses.
Bondi’s critics say the move is part of a broader push to use the Justice Department to settle political scores. For now, the grand jury is at work, the DOJ is keeping quiet, and it’s unclear whether charges will actually be filed.
