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

The prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, who manages major criminal cases in the Norfolk office for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, plans to imminently present her assessment to Lindsey Halligan, a Trump ally who was installed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in the previous month.

The Justice Department offered no statement on the matter. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia also did not return a request for comment.

Major Dispute Between Department of Justice and Trump

This case signals another high-profile confrontation between the Justice Department and Trump, who has earlier dismissed attorneys who resisted to target his critics. Halligan, who possesses no prosecutorial experience, was appointed to the role at the urging of Trump after her predecessor concluded there was no legal basis to file criminal charges against James Comey, the former FBI director.

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

Mortgage Fraud Claims and Probe

William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head and a strong Trump ally, made a criminal referral against James to the Justice Department in April, alleging she may have committed mortgage fraud. Pulte pointed to 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 primary residence. James was holding the position of the Attorney General of New York at the time.

Prosecutors formed a grand jury in May to investigate the matter but faced difficulties building a case against James, even with pressure from Trump allies. Emails from the time of the home purchase and additional mortgage documents demonstrate James explicitly stating that she did not plan for the home to be her primary residence. This evidence poses a challenge for prosecutors to prove that James deliberately falsified on the mortgage documents.

Ongoing Shake-Up in Justice Division

Multiple prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have faced termination or resigned in recent weeks as Trump has escalated pressure on the office to bring charges against Comey and James.

Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor, stepped down on September 19 after facing pressure from Trump to file charges. Maya Song, a key deputy to Siebert, was also fired in late September. Michael Ben’Ary, a prominent national security prosecutor in the office, was similarly dismissed last week after unfounded accusations from a pro-Trump media personality.

“The leadership is focused with targeting the President’s perceived enemies than they are with defending our national security,” he expressed in his farewell letter to colleagues.

“Justice for Americans affected by our enemies should not be contingent on what someone in the Department of Justice encounters in their digital platforms that day.”