Name: Letitia James reacts to grand jury refusing to re-indict her
Uploaded: 2025-12-05T15:19:14.950Z
Duration: 3 min 38 s
Description: New York Attorney General Letitia James reacted to news of a federal grand jury refusing to re-indict her after earlier fraud charges against her were thrown out. CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi has more.

New York Attorney General Letitia James reacted to news of a federal grand jury refusing to re-indict her after earlier fraud charges against her were thrown out. CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi has more.

New York

A grand jury in New York has declined to re-indict Attorney General Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges, less than two weeks after a judge dismissed an earlier case against her. Legal analysts note that grand juries rarely reject indictments, especially when the standard is only probable cause, making this decision highly unusual and significant.

The case has faced multiple procedural and technical barriers, with previous attempts to prosecute James failing to advance to substantive arguments in court. James and her attorneys have argued that the charges are baseless and claim she is being targeted, while legal experts suggest the repeated failures to indict highlight fundamental weaknesses in the prosecution's case.

Letitia James reacts to grand jury refusing to re-indict her

A grand jury refused the new indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James. This, fewer than two weeks after a judge dismissed the earlier mortgage fraud case against her. In a statement, James says, quote, as I've said from the start, the charges against me are baseless. It is time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to stop, end quote. CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi joins us now to explain all of this. Caroline, good morning, great to see you this Friday. I don't typically remember hearing about grand juries completely rejecting an indictment. So how rare is this and what is the significance considering the previous case against James was also thrown out? Yeah, Errol, you don't hear about it that often because it really doesn't happen that often. Incredibly, incredibly rare for a grand jury to vote a no bill on a presentation that prosecutors have presented before us. Remember, the standard to indict at a grand jury level is just probable cause. The standard to obtain a conviction is obviously proof beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a huge blow for President Trump's Justice Department. If you look back at the history of this case and James's attorney's statement there, her statement really hearkens back to that. Remember, Eric Siebert, who was the top prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, stepped down and was fired for refusing to move forward with this case because he didn't think there was enough evidence, as well as the James Comey case. President Trump then installed a White House aide, Lindsey Halligan, that was, of course, the bombshell ruling that we got last week regarding that when she obtained this initial indictment against Tish James and James Comey, a judge ruled that that appointment was not actually legal, that the Trump administration had sort of sidestepped the constitutional requirements for an appointment of an interim United States attorney. So now we have the GOJ coming back and trying to reindict yet again, but the grand jurors not signing off on this indictment. Clearly, they didn't have any more evidence to present to that grand jury, and I think it shows a fundamental weakness in this case. This is not the end of the road for them. They have options moving forward, but it's a really, really strong blow. And James had, we can't forget, as attorney general in New York State, been behind the prosecution of Donald Trump as a private citizen in many cases here. She says she's being targeted. So what happens now? Where does the government's case against her go, considering that so much of it has already fallen apart? Yeah, that's a really good point, Errol. The fact is this case hasn't gotten past GO, so we haven't been able to see any of these substantive arguments being argued and litigated before a court. We have seen she also, and James Comey, made motions calling for dismissal of these cases on the merits of vindictive prosecution and selective prosecution, essentially that President Trump is singling out these individuals. Obviously, Tish James made a name for herself getting that huge civil judgment against President Trump and the Trump Organization for, ironically, what she's essentially being accused of in this mortgage fraud indictment, sort of not valuing her properties appropriately. But we really aren't getting to litigate those merits, again, because of all of these procedural and technical issues that just aren't getting these cases past GO. All right, Caroline, great to see you this Friday. Appreciate your time.

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