Brian Harrod

Brian Harrod

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Brian Harrod

@GetTheDailyDirt

11 Oct 2025

#HMMM... It looks like Tish James’s regular visits to the property to see her grandniece and other family, including Ms. Thompson’s mother, who also lives in a Norfolk home Ms. James owns, may be useful to the attorney general’s defense team.... NEW YORK TIMES: In the Eye of a Political Storm, Letitia James’ Tiny Yellow House in Norfolk, Va HELPING A TROUBLED FAMILY MEMBER: Attorney General Letitia James of New York purchased the $137,000 home for a grandniece who needed tranquility. BUT, BUT, BUT... Trump's personal lawyer and prosecutor Claims that it is an impermissible investment property. #FACTS.... But Tish James' grand niece's testimony that she has lived in the house rent-free — Ms. James pays even for basic upkeep, the people said — could make it difficult for prosecutors to convince a jury that the house was meant to be used as a rental investment property. In the indictment, the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, accuses Ms. James of having misrepresented the purpose of the house when she purchased it in August 2020 for $137,000. The indictment says that while Ms. James indicated to her mortgage broker that she expected to use the house as a second home, she had instead used it as a “rental investment property, renting the property to a family.” In June, Tish Jame's grandniece testified to a grand jury in Norfolk that she had lived in the house for years and that she did not pay rent, a person familiar with her testimony said. She was not asked to testify again, and the grand jury that voted to indict Ms. James was not seated in Norfolk, but in Alexandria. The specter of Mr. Trump’s revenge campaign has so far overshadowed the facts of the case, given how he has pushed for Ms. James’s punishment. For years, he has railed against her on social media, calling her a “crook” and “corrupt.” Last month, he also appointed Ms. Halligan, once one of his personal lawyers, to replace Erik S. Siebert, the previous U.S. attorney in Eastern Virginia. Mr. Siebert had cast doubt on the case, as had career prosecutors in the office. That sequence of events has prompted outrage from Democrats and even some Republicans, as has the paltry amount Ms. James is accused of having stood to gain — $18,933. But Mr. Trump’s allies celebrated the indictment, calling it airtight and suggesting that it represents fair play against a state attorney general who had sued Mr. Trump in 2022, accusing him of “staggering fraud.” A lawyer for Ms. James, Abbe D. Lowell, has flatly denied the charges on her behalf. Ms. Halligan, in a statement, said that they represented “tremendous breaches of the public’s trust.” Ms. Thompson and Ms. James’s yearslong use of the house and Ms. Thompson’s testimony to the grand jury — neither of which has been previously reported — illuminate the straightforward factual dispute that will animate the case. Real estate and legal experts said that it would be difficult to assess the strength of Ms. Halligan’s case until more facts were presented in court. But the burden of proof is high. If the case makes it to trial, the charges, one of bank fraud and one of false statements to a financial institution, will require prosecutors to convince a jury that Ms. James intentionally misled the mortgage broker, OVM Financial, and First Savings Bank, which, according to the indictment, acquired the loan in 2021. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. “The question is, what is the proof and what are the facts,” said Stuart Slotnick, a former prosecutor who heads the New York City office of Buchanan, Ingersoll and Rooney, concentrating in part on real estate litigation. nytimes.com/2025/10/11/us/po… #LetitiaJames, #NewYorkAG, #NorfolkHouse, #TinyYellowHouse, #PoliticalStorm, #FamilySupport, #Grandniece, #Tranquility, #TrumpLawyer, #LindseyHalligan, #InvestmentProperty, #RentFree, #MortgageFraud, #Indictment, #SecondHome, #RentalProperty, #GrandJury, #Norfolk, #Alexandria, #TrumpRevenge, #SocialMediaAttacks, #Crook, #Corrupt, #USAttorney, #ErikSiebert, #DemocratOutrage, #RepublicanOutrage, #PaltryGain, #FairPlay, #AbbeLowell, #PublicTrust, #ThompsonTestimony, #RealEstate, #LegalExperts, #BankFraud, #FalseStatements, #OVMFinancial, #FirstSavingsBank, #JusticeDepartment, #StuartSlotnick, #BuchananIngersoll, #RealEstateLitigation, #HighBurdenOfProof, #CourtFacts, #PoliticalMotives

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