WASHINGTON –The Justice Department has convened a grand jury and subpoenaed New York Attorney General Letitia James as part of an investigation into whether she violated President Donald Trump’s civil rights by prosecuting him for fraud, according to news reports.

The subpoenas seek records related to a successful lawsuit James filed against Trump over alleged fraud in his personal business dealings, according to the Associated Press and Reuters reports on Aug. 8, which cited people familiar with the matter.

The DOJ is seeking records involving a lawsuit brought against the National Rifle Association by James, New York State’s top prosecutor and a Democrat who has sparred publicly with Trump for years, both news outlets also reported.

The news reports prompted James' office to accuse the Trump administration of politicizing the legal system.

"Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American,” James’ office said in a statement reported by the news outlets. “We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the NRA, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers’ rights."

In the NRA case, a jury found the gun rights group liable for years of financial mismanagement that allowed its former leader to engage in lavish spending. The group’s lawyers alleged the group was targeted because of its political advocacy.

Separately, the Justice Department has named conservative legal activist Ed Martin as a special attorney to investigate allegations of mortgage fraud by James and Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who has also been an outspoken Trump foe, Reuters and the Associated Press reported.

The Justice Department had no comment on the news reports, which could not be immediately confirmed by USA TODAY.

Schiff and James have denied any wrongdoing. Neither could be immediately reached for comment through their spokespeople.

An investigation dating back to May at least

The DOJ under Attorney General Pam Bondi has drawn sharp criticism for going after Trump’s foes, and James has been at or near the top of Trump's enemies list since the state prosecutor won a $454 million judgment against Trump for defrauding lenders by inflating his assets in 2024.

Trump is appealing the judgment and continues to criticize James. He called her a "totally corrupt politician" and “wacky crook” who should immediately resign in an April post on his Truth Social platform.

In May, the Justice Department opened a separate investigation into James over real estate transactions, multiple news outlets reported.

That FBI-led probe is tied to loans and property purchases in New York City and Virginia, the Albany Times Union, Guardian and Washington Post reported on May 8.

In a criminal referral filed in April, the Trump-appointed director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency accused James of falsifying bank documents and property records in multiple instances to acquire government-backed assistance loans and more favorable loan terms.

FHFA head William Pulte alleged in the referral that James potentially misrepresented property descriptions and claimed her primary residential status as Norfolk. He cited "media reports" as the basis.

On April 24, James' lawyer, Abbe Lowell, sent a letter to the DOJ arguing the accusations against James are meritless and that they are motivated by Trump's personal animus towards James.

“These baseless and long-discredited allegations, put to rest by my April 24th letter to the Department of Justice, are suddenly back in the news just days after President Trump publicly attacked Attorney General James," Lowell said in a May 8 statement on behalf of James. "This appears to be the political retribution President Trump threatened to exact that AG Bondi assured the Senate would not occur on her watch. If prosecutors are genuinely interested in the truth, we are prepared to meet false claims with facts.”

James is currently suing the Trump administration over cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services' and executive actions pertaining to elections that she says are unconstitutional.

A ‘special prosecutor’ to investigate James, Schiff, other Trump foes

In the mortgage fraud probes, Martin is not a special counsel or independent prosecutor appointed to handle politically sensitive investigations, Reuters said. As such, the Justice Department official must work with a U.S. attorney's office to bring any charges, Reuters said, citing a source knowledgeable about his appointment.

Since his failed bid for U.S. attorney, the conservative legal activist has served as a special Justice Department official whose job is to identify any efforts to politicize and weaponize the Justice Department that were purportedly undertaken by the prior Biden administration.

A grand jury seated in the Eastern District of Virginia will investigate the James mortgage fraud allegations, and a grand jury in Maryland will investigate the allegations against Schiff, said an NBC News report.

NBC News said that Martin met the morning of Aug. 8 with Pulte, and that the Federal Housing Finance Agency director had sent a criminal referral on the California senator to the Justice Department in May – a month after sending the criminal referral on James.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DOJ opens investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, a top Trump foe

Reporting by Josh Meyer, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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