Ranking Member Raskin’s Statement on Trump’s Baseless Indictment of N.Y. State Attorney General Letitia James

Washington, D.C. (October 9, 2025)— Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, issued the following statement in response to the vindictive and baseless indictment filed against New York State Attorney General Letitia James by President Trump’s newly installed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA), Lindsey Halligan:

“Just two weeks ago, Donald Trump sent Attorney General Pam Bondi his enemies list and ordered her to prosecute his political opponents. After installing a fellow former Trump defense attorney as Acting U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Bondi has been delivering on Trump’s demands, indicting former FBI Director James Comey, and now New York Attorney General Letitia James, on baseless charges. 

 

“The charges against James were so flimsy and so demonstrably lacking in probable cause that Erik Siebert, a Republican and Trump’s own appointed U.S. Attorney, resigned in protest rather than participate in this farce. And never mind that numerous Republicans, including three of Trump’s own cabinet members, engaged in exactly the same conduct as James is accused of but evidently have nothing to fear from DOJ. None of this stopped Trump’s hand-picked Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia from bringing these charges. Together with the help of Ed Martin, an unrepentant celebrant of the January 6 insurrectionary riots and the head of DOJ’s aptly-named Weaponization Task Force, the new sycophant U.S. Attorney forced out the experienced career prosecutors who refused to cross the red line by bringing bogus charges for political reasons. The only ones left in charge at the DOJ are Trump operatives who will do anything that the boss asks, no matter how illegal or unconstitutional. This is the essence of authoritarianism. 

 

“New Yorkers and the rest of America can see through this charade. When a jury examines the flimsy pretext and disqualifying history of these charges, they will vindicate Attorney General James and expose this prosecution for what it is: a vengeful temper tantrum orchestrated by a 34-count felon who has been led to believe by the Roberts Court that he alone is above the rule of law in America."