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A veteran federal prosecutor in Virginia has advised her colleagues that she does not believe there is probable cause to pursue fraudulent mortgage charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, as reported by a source familiar with the situation.

The prosecutor, Elizabeth Yusi, who oversees significant prosecutions in the Norfolk office for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, will imminently present her conclusion to Lindsey Halligan, a ally of the former president who was appointed 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 respond to a request for comment.

Major Dispute Between DOJ and Trump

This case signals another notable confrontation between the Justice Department and Trump, who has in the past fired attorneys who declined to target his critics. Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience, was named to the role at the urging of Trump after her former office holder concluded there was insufficient evidence to file criminal charges against James Comey, the previous FBI director.

Trump has publicly demanded the U.S. Attorney General to prosecute James, who headed a civil fraud case against the president that resulted in a $500 million fine, though the ruling was afterwards thrown out by a New York state appellate court.

Mortgage Fraud Accusations and Inquiry

William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head and a dedicated Trump ally, made a allegation against James to the Justice Department in April, alleging she may have committed mortgage fraud. Pulte pointed to mortgage documents related to a 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home that James helped purchase for her niece, in which James suggested on a document that she planned to occupy the home as her main home. James was acting as the Attorney General of New York at the time.

Prosecutors formed a grand jury in May to look into the matter but struggled building a case against James, notwithstanding urging from Trump allies. Emails from the time of the home purchase and other mortgage documents reveal James directly noting that she did not intend for the home to be her primary residence. This evidence complicates efforts for prosecutors to prove that James deliberately falsified on the mortgage documents.

Ongoing Changes in Justice Division

Multiple prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have been dismissed or stepped down 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 encountering pressure from Trump to file charges. Maya Song, a key deputy to Siebert, was also fired in late September. Michael Ben’Ary, a leading national security prosecutor in the office, was removed last week after inaccurate accusations from a pro-Trump media personality.

“The leadership is focused with penalizing the President’s opponents than they are with defending our national security,” he wrote in his farewell letter to colleagues.

“Justice for Americans harmed by our enemies should not be dependent on what someone in the Department of Justice encounters in their online content that day.”