AG Letitia James heckled over mortgage fraud case at town hall: ‘Apologize to Donald Trump'
New York State Attorney General Letitia James was heckled by a Trump supporter at a community hearing where she claimed the freshly opened federal criminal probe into her alleged mortgage fraud is 'baseless.'
James was interrupted at a community impact hearing in Westchester on Thursday night, just hours after the Trump administration opened a formal criminal probe into James over the alleged mortgage fraud involving her Brooklyn and Virginia properties.
'Apologize to Donald Trump for wasting millions of dollars in the state of New York,' the MAGA booster shouted from the audience.
The interruption was met with a chorus of boos from the New York crowd as the demonstrator was escorted from the meeting.
'Everyone knows those allegations are baseless,' James said in response.
'We want to thank him for coming, we respect all opinions,' the AG added.
Despite James' cool display, she is feeling the heat from the Trump Department of Justice, which opened a criminal investigation into the AG after receiving a complaint from the Federal Housing Finance Agency last month.
The government alleges that James falsified records to meet certain lending requirements to receive favorable loan terms.
Feds claim James misrepresented the number of units in her Brooklyn home and falsely stated that a home in Norfolk, Virginia, was her principal residence.
The alleged infractions could amount to criminal charges stemming from wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, and making false statements to a financial institution.
New York state taxpayers may also be on the hook for her legal fees that stem from any probe or prosecution, according to a new item in the state budget.
Alongside James at the Westchester meeting Thursday were California AG Rob Bonta, Illinois AG Kwame Raoul, Minnesota AG Keith Ellison, and New Jersey AG Matt Platkin.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Fox News
21 minutes ago
- Fox News
Retired Justice Stephen Breyer's brother assigned to Newsom National Guard lawsuit
The brother of retired liberal Justice Stephen Breyer was assigned Tuesday to preside over the lawsuit that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom brought against the Trump administration in California this week. Judge Charles Breyer, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, is set to oversee the case, which alleges President Donald Trump deprived California of its sovereignty by federalizing thousands of National Guard soldiers in response to anti-immigration enforcement protests and riots in Los Angeles County. Breyer is the younger brother of Stephen Breyer, who was appointed by Clinton to the high court and served on the bench for nearly three decades beginning in 1994. Stephen Breyer's retirement led to former President Joe Biden replacing him with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Charles Breyer, who serves on the federal bench in the Northern District of California, will oversee a lawsuit that pits Newsom, one of the country's most prominent Democrats and a possible 2028 presidential contender, against Trump. Newsom alleged in the lawsuit that Trump made an "unprecedented power grab" by mobilizing the National Guard in his state, a highly unusual move for a president to do without the consent of the governor. Trump has said the move was necessary to protect ICE personnel and federal buildings as some protesters engaged in unlawful assembly and pelted law enforcement with concrete bottles and other hard objects. After the National Guard proclamation, more unrest broke out in parts of the county involving rioters setting fire to several self-driving cars and looting some stores. Newsom alleged Trump's decision to send in the military spurred more chaos. Federal court cases in the Northern District of California are assigned by the Clerk of the Court "blindly and at random" through an automated system, according to the court's website. Fox News Digital reached out to Charles Breyer's chambers for comment on his assignment. The news of Charles Breyer presiding over the case comes as some Republicans have floated the theory that Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., secretly took on Trump cases to sabotage them in favor of plaintiffs. Boasberg directly addressed the claims during a court hearing, saying his assignments, like most others in the court, were randomly assigned by a computer.


CNN
24 minutes ago
- CNN
Former local news anchor sues rival station for defamation over report he says portrayed him as a ‘child predator'
A former local news anchor in Shreveport, Louisiana, has sued a rival station for defamation, accusing it of engaging in 'character assassination' after it ran a report he says portrayed him as a 'child predator.' Emmy Award-winning journalist Bill Lunn, a former anchor for ABC affiliate KTBS, filed the lawsuit late last month against rival local outlet KTAL, its married co-anchors Daniel and Jacquelyn Jovic, and its owner, Nexstar. The complaint was filed almost one year after Lunn resigned from KTBS in advance of a KTAL report claiming Lunn had been busted by 'vigilantes targeting men seeking to prey on underage girls.' Lunn had been cleared by a police investigation, and no charges were filed — a fact KTAL included in its report. Nevertheless, the former anchor said in his lawsuit that KTAL and Nexstar failed to 'vet, edit or confirm allegations that labeled him a child predator.' Lunn resigned to spare his employer any embarrassment, he said in the lawsuit, 'with the intention and hope to return to work once the facts cleared his name.' However, the lawsuit alleges the KTAL report ultimately 'ended his career in broadcast journalism.' The former anchor alleged that KTAL targeted him because of their two stations' rivalry in the Shreveport market. 'Jovic and his co-Defendants seized on the opportunity to bend the facts to their will in an attempt (to) take out or otherwise substantially interfere with the market leader and their direct competitor, Lunn,' the lawsuit alleges. Lunn downloaded the popular dating app Tinder on May 27, 2024, and was sent a message of 'interest' from a person he thought was a 19-year-old woman the same day, according to the lawsuit. Shortly thereafter, Lunn was asked to text the woman on her cellphone, after which she 'initiated a sexually explicit exchange.' Two days after the initial message, the supposed 19-year-old invited Lunn to her home, where he was ushered in by a woman. Upon entry, Lunn was 'beaten and robbed of his belongings' by a trio of men. After escaping the house, Lunn returned home and, with the help of another person, called the Shreveport Police Department, according to the lawsuit. Once police arrived, Lunn recounted the night's events and provided his cellphone to aid in law enforcement's investigation, at which point he noticed that the woman had edited her age in a text message from 19 to 16, the lawsuit says. Her Tinder profile, however, still showed her as being 19 years old. In the days that followed, Daniel Jovic, the rival reporter, contacted a police source to inquire whether Lunn had been found with a 14-year-old girl and whether he had fled from the police, according to the lawsuit. Jovic was told Lunn did not run, that no arrests were made and that the investigation was ongoing, the lawsuit says. Jovic interviewed the trio of men for a newscast he led with his co-anchor and wife, Jacquelyn, which was broadcast on June 3, 2024. According to the lawsuit, that newscast allegedly 'lied, misrepresented, and ignored the evidence in their possession,' relying on 'an interview conducted with a wholesale lack of diligence.' 'After meeting them, Jovic engaged in leading and calculated questioning eventually eliciting some 'facts' that, despite the source and Jovic's own training and knowledge as to their questionable truth or veracity, culminated in the false broadcast that derailed Lunn's career,' the lawsuit read. The next day, Daniel Jovic published a story on KTAL's website, revealing the group of local so-called predator hunters 'pretending to be an underage girl in an effort to 'catfish' local men who are allegedly trying to meet up for sex.' Despite publishing two subsequent stories — one reporting Lunn's denials and another reporting that police cleared Lunn — KTAL and the Jovic couple have 'never acknowledged, corrected, or retracted their numerous defamatory broadcasts in which they named Petitioner a child predator,' the lawsuit says. A Nexstar lawyer told Lunn's attorney that the company 'stands by the journalist and the stories as presented,' according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit does not list a specific dollar amount in damages sought by Lunn. However, he 'demands a trial by jury' in order to 'hold these Defendants accountable for their actions.' Nexstar, KTAL, Daniel Jovic and Jacquelyn Jovic did not immediately respond to CNN requests for comment.


Bloomberg
26 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Macron Seeks Greenland Visit to Counter ‘Predation' After Trump
French President Emmanuel Macron said he plans to visit Greenland on Sunday to help counter any 'predation' after US President Donald Trump said he wants to take over the self-ruling territory of Denmark. France wants to show solidarity with Denmark and say 'we are here' to support the fellow European Union country, Macron said in an interview on France 2 television.