Defiant New York Attorney General Letitia James criticized President Donald Trump’s ‘desperate weaponization’ of the Department of Justice after a shocking indictment accusing her of mortgage fraud.

The attorney general, known for being a prominent critic of Trump and for initiating a successful civil lawsuit against him in February 2024 for business fraud, appeared confident in a video response to the indictment on Thursday evening.

‘This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system,’ she wrote on X. 

‘I am not fearful – I am fearless,’ she stated, pledging: ‘We will vigorously contest these unfounded charges, and my office will persist in rigorously safeguarding New Yorkers and their rights.’

In her video, James also accused the president of ‘forcing federal law enforcement agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my job as the New York State Attorney General.

‘These charges are baseless and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,’ she continued. 

The attorney general went on to tell ‘leaders on both sides of the aisle to speak out against this blatant perversion of our system of justice.’ 

James has already gained the support of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who wrote that: ‘New Yorkers know @NewYorkStateAG James for her integrity, her independence and her relentless fight for justice.’

‘What we’re seeing today is nothing less than the weaponization of the Justice Department to punish those who hold the powerful accountable.’ 

James was indicted Thursday in federal court in Virginia, the Department of Justice announced.

‘No one is above the law,’ U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan said in a statement.

‘The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of public trust,’ she claimed. ‘The facts and the law in this case are clear and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.’ 

James has been under investigation for mortgage fraud since May when allegations emerged that she took out a mortgage to help her niece buy a home in Virginia. 

Investigators have said that James falsified information on loan documents for properties she owns in Virginia and New York to secure favorable loans. 

But James’ attorneys claim the allegations were related to a single document on her mortgage application that ‘mistakenly’ said it would be her primary residence.

Former US Attorney Erik Sieber even reportedly resigned from his position after resisting pressure from the White House to bring charges against James and former FBI James Comey.

Halligan has since begun a bombshell prosecution against the former FBI chief.

James took office in New York in 2019 after running on promises to investigate Trump. 

She has frequently been attacked by the president for her civil lawsuit against him for business fraud, in which she went after Trump, his adult sons and his real estate empire. 

A New York judge found them liable for fraudulently inflating the value of Trump properties in September 2023, and Trump was hit with a $355 million fine. He has appealed the ruling. 

James is also among a number of state attorneys general that have recently sued the Trump administration to block actions taken by the White House. 

By April of this year, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Trump ally Bill Pulte, sent a letter to the DOJ, accusing James of falsifying records related to her properties in Virginia and Brooklyn.

Amid the investigation, Sieber reportedly refused to bring charges after interviewing dozens of witnesses. 

Elizabeth Yusi, a prosecutor from the Eastern Division of Virginia, has recently said she, too, found no probable cause in the investigation.

Sibert was ultimately replaced by Halligan after he refused pressure from Trump to bring charges against James and Comey and sources told MSNBC on Monday they are now bracing for Yusi to be fired.

James has denied allegations that she committed mortgage fraud in her loan application, and insisted it was a small mistake on one page of documents. 

Her attorneys have released documents they say prove she mistakenly ticked a box to say the Virginia mortgage was for her primary residence. 

This includes an email to her loan originator that made clear, ‘this property WILL NOT be my primary residence’, according to CNN. 

But Trump has maintained that the New York attorney general ‘is very guilty of something,’ saying so in a mid-September Q&A session in the Oval Office with reporters. 

In that same back-and-forth, he expressed his displeasure with Sieber, saying: ‘I want him out,’ before the prosecutor resigned and was replaced by Halligan, a former White House aide who previously served as the president’s defense attorney. 

She had no prior prosecutorial experience. 

The Justice Department has also opened mortgage fraud probes into U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat who led the House of Representatives’ inquiry that led to Trump’s impeachment in 2019, and Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden.

Neither Schiff nor Cook has been charged with a crime, and they both deny wrongdoing. 

Daily Mail has contacted James’ office for comment.