AILSA CHANG, HOST:
A grand jury has indicted Letitia James, the Democratic attorney general in New York, on two criminal charges. James will now face two felony counts of bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution. This move comes after President Trump specifically pressed the Justice Department to prosecute James, who is one of Trump's longtime political foes. NPR's Carrie Johnson has been following this story, and she's here now to talk more about it. Hi, Carrie.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK, so what do we know so far about this case against Letitia James?
JOHNSON: A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, handed down the indictment today. It covers two alleged crimes. One is bank fraud. The second is false statements to a financial institution related to a property in coastal Virginia she bought in 2020. This all follows a monthslong investigation this year by prosecutors in Virginia. And this process was really unusual. A Republican prosecutor who had been leading the office concluded there was not enough evidence to bring a case against Tish (ph) James. But he was forced out of his job by the White House, and the woman who replaced him, Lindsey Halligan, has no experience as a prosecutor. I'm told she's the person who presented this case to the grand jury today.
CHANG: Interesting. OK, let's remind everyone there has been a lot of history between Tish James and President Trump. Can you just walk us through what some of that has been?
JOHNSON: James had pledged during her campaign for New York attorney general to investigate Donald Trump. She wound up bringing a civil business fraud case against him and his company. In court, she won that case and won more than $450 million. Trump has been blasting the investigation as a witch hunt and calling for James to be in prison. And then in the last couple of weeks, Trump made a public social media post calling on the Justice Department to go after James and some of his other perceived political enemies. One of them was former FBI director, Jim Comey. That new prosecutor in Virginia got an indictment of Comey right before the statute of limitations expired, and Comey was in court yesterday pleading not guilty to the charges against him. His lawyer says Comey will bring a motion to dismiss the case based on vindictive prosecution.
CHANG: And any reaction from James yet so far?
JOHNSON: She says these charges are baseless and the president's own words make clear they are political retribution. Here's more from James in a video statement tonight.
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LETITIA JAMES: This is nothing more than a continuation of the president's desperate weaponization of our justice system. He is forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding. All because I did my job as the New York State attorney general.
JOHNSON: James says she's going to fight these charges and keep doing her job. Worth noting, grand juries hear only from prosecutors, and the standard for indicting someone is much lower than winning a conviction in court. That's proof beyond a reasonable doubt. While the DOJ instruction manual for prosecutors says they should only proceed if they're confident of winning a conviction, it's not clear those rules are being followed anymore.
CHANG: OK, so what can we expect next in this case?
JOHNSON: James will have her day in court in late October, just like Jim Comey did. President Trump has said more action may be coming against people who have crossed him. We know prosecutors have been looking at former national security adviser John Bolton. They've also been looking at California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, a vocal critic of Trump who says he has done nothing wrong.
CHANG: That is NPR's Carrie Johnson. Thank you, Carrie.
JOHNSON: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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