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An experienced federal prosecutor in Virginia has advised her colleagues that she finds no basis there is probable cause to pursue mortgage fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, who supervises high-profile investigations in the Norfolk office for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, plans to shortly present her finding to Lindsey Halligan, a Trump ally who was installed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia last month.

The Justice Department did not respond on the matter. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia also did not respond to a request for comment.

High-Profile Confrontation Between Department of Justice and Trump

This case signals another high-profile confrontation between the Justice Department and Trump, who has previously removed attorneys who declined to prosecute his political enemies. Halligan, who possesses no prosecutorial experience, was appointed to the role after requests by Trump after her preceding attorney concluded there was no probable cause to file criminal charges against James Comey, the previous FBI director.

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

Mortgage Fraud Accusations and Probe

William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head and a staunch Trump ally, made a criminal referral against James to the Justice Department in April, asserting she may have committed mortgage fraud. Pulte referenced mortgage documents pertaining to a 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home that James assisted in buying for her niece, in which James seemed to state on a document that she intended to use the home as her main home. James was acting as the Attorney General of New York at the time.

Prosecutors assembled a grand jury in May to investigate the matter but had trouble building a case against James, despite urging from Trump allies. Emails from the time of the home purchase and further mortgage documents demonstrate James directly noting that she did not plan for the home to be her primary residence. This evidence makes it difficult for prosecutors to prove that James knowingly lied on the mortgage documents.

Ongoing Changes in Justice Division

Multiple prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have been dismissed or resigned 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 senior deputy to Siebert, was also terminated in late September. Michael Ben’Ary, a leading national security prosecutor in the office, was removed last week after unfounded accusations from a pro-Trump media personality.

“The leadership is preoccupied with penalizing the President’s perceived enemies than they are with protecting our national security,” he stated in his final message to colleagues.

“Justice for Americans killed and injured by our enemies should not be contingent on what someone in the Department of Justice encounters in their social media feed that day.”