The retention by Attorney General Letitia James, in her official capacity, of one of the premiere defense lawyers in America, Abbe Lowell, who has strong ties to the Washington establishment, suggests that she is taking seriously the possibility of facing criminal jeopardy. New Yorkers, though, could be the ones paying Mr. Lowell’s bills. 

The hiring of counsel is a role reversal for Ms. James, who is New York’s top prosecutor. In February 2024 she secured a civil fraud verdict in excess of $450 million against President Trump, his business, and two of his adult sons. That judgement is now under appeal, and faced skepticism at the appellate level. Ms. James faces scrutiny for her own real estate dealings, in the form of a criminal referral to the Department of Justice and Attorney General Bondi.

Mr. Lowell, who rose to prominence in the late 1990s as the Democratic House minority’s chief counsel during the impeachment of President Clinton, recently represented Hunter Biden across his criminal tax and gun cases — the first son eventually secured a pardon from President Biden after a series of setbacks in court could have had him headed to prison.

In his newfound defense of Ms. James, Mr. Lowell wasted little time in rebutting the allegations that she “appeared to have falsified records” in respect of home purchases in order to secure more favorable loan terms. The accusations of mortgage fraud mirror in miniature the fraudulent practices for which Mr. Trump was found liable.   

The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pulte, who made the referral, levels three allegations against Ms. James. He contends that she listed a Virginia property as her primary residence, that she improperly listed the number of units at her Brooklyn home to secure a favorable loan, and that she was identified as her father’s spouse on another loan application. 

Mr. Lowell insists that Mr. Pulte is “cherry picking” documents and that his dossier “omitted numerous other records … which refute the allegations of impropriety.”   

Mr. Lowell calls the referral “the latest act of improper political retribution — this time directed at Ms. James — publicly instigated and endorsed by President Trump.” The veteran lawyer criticizes the “stunning hypocrisy” of Mr. Trump’s contention that the DOJ has been “politicized” against him. 

“Mr. Trump has singled out Attorney General James,” Mr. Lowell writes. Actually it was the other way around, in that it was Ms. James who ran for office with a vow to shine a “bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings.” She also called him a “carnival barker” and a “con man.” Mr. Trump during his trial lamented:  “How do I get a fair trial with a monster like ‘Attorney General’ Peekaboo James.”

Mr. Trump has also called for Ms. James to be placed “under citizen’s arrest” for “blatant election interference and harassment.” He added teeth to that threat by directing the heads of executive departments and agencies to revoke her security clearance and bar her from access to classified information. 

Ms. Bondi’s Weaponization Working Group, convened in February pursuant to an executive order from Mr. Trump, vows to probe “Federal cooperation with the weaponization by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, their respective staffs, and other New York officials to target President Trump, his family, and his businesses.”  

Now Mr. Lowell denounces the referral from Mr. Pulte as amounting to “three pages of stale, threadbare allegations with no reason to proceed.” He writes to Ms. Bondi that the possible charges against his client are best understood as “the next salvo in President Trump’s revenge tour against Attorney General James.”

Mr. Lowell’s clients have included, in addition to Mr. Biden, Senators Edwards and Menendez, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and Mr. Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka and Jared Kushner, in connection to Russian collusion allegations.