Prosecutor Who Rejected Trump’s Pressure to Charge James Is Fired
The dismissal was the latest fallout from attempts by career Justice Department officials to impede the president’s wide-ranging campaign of retribution. The prosecutor’s deputy was also fired.
nytimes.com
A federal prosecutor who resisted President Trump’s demands to bring charges against Letitia James, the New York state attorney general, was fired along with her deputy on Friday evening, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The dismissal of the prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, was the latest fallout from attempts by career Justice Department officials to pump the brakes on Mr. Trump’s wide-ranging efforts to seek retribution against his perceived political opponents.
Ms. Yusi, who oversaw major criminal cases in the Norfolk office of the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia, had pushed back against Mr. Trump’s public calls for Ms. James to be indicted, telling colleagues that she had not found probable cause to file charges, the people familiar with the matter said. It was not immediately clear why her deputy, Kristin G. Bird, had also been fired.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Despite the concerns career prosecutors raised about the case, Mr. Trump’s inexperienced handpicked choice to lead the prosecutors’ office, Lindsey Halligan, secured an indictment against Ms. James last week, accusing her of mortgage fraud. The indictment said Ms. James had falsely claimed in loan documents that she would use a home she had purchased in Norfolk, Va., as a secondary residence, but instead had used it as a rental property, allowing her to receive favorable terms that saved her close to $19,000.
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