Tish James Faces Charges of Hypocrisy if She Engaged in the Same Actions She Criticized Trump For
A message to state Attorney General Tish James: If you intend to bring a former US president to court for misleading financial institutions, you should probably not find yourself accused of doing the same.
James reportedly “falsified records” in 2023, according to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, to secure a more advantageous mortgage on a Virginia property she declared as her “principal” residence while actually residing in New York and serving as AG.
Pulte pointed out other potentially deceptive statements made by James — such as misrepresenting her five-unit Brooklyn property as having four units and stating that her father was her husband — in his criminal referral to the Justice Department.
James’s acquisition of the Virginia home coincided with her initiation of a civil-fraud lawsuit against the Trump Organization, claiming it inflated the value of numerous properties in documents submitted to banks, a lawsuit that culminated in a $464 million judgment (currently under appeal).
It’s worth noting that James did grant a relative, Shamice Thompson-Hairston, her power of attorney to sign the purchase authorization document, as reported by White Collar Fraud.
However, in her case against Trump, she held him (along with his sons) accountable for documents similarly prepared by subordinates.
She may argue that these accusations represent a form of dirty politics masquerading as justice, but she did, after all, run for attorney general with a promise to scrutinize every Trump document and action in a fishing expedition to construct some case — any case — against him.
As of now, she has not addressed these allegations; we anticipate her clarification regarding the “principal residence” issue.
When James initiated her investigation of Trump in 2019, she famously stated that “no one is above the law, not even the president.”
Surely, that principle should apply to a state attorney general as well.
