Letitia James strikes a defiant tone at a rally with socialist Mamdani in the wake of the indictment against her

The attorney general of New York, Letitia James, reappeared in public on Monday after being charged with bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution. She did so at a rally for the socialist Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, held in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood, where she struck a combative tone before thousands of supporters who cheered her on with shouts of "We love you, Tish."

Attorney James, a longtime rival of President Donald Trump, denounced the existence of "powerful voices trying to silence truth and punish dissent" and warned that "the fraying of our democracy" is occurring.

Although he did not mention him directly, his words clearly referred to President Trump, who had repeatedly called for his prosecution in recent months.

“You come for me, you got to come through all of us!” A combative James shouted from the stage, vowing that she "will not capitulate" to what she described as an attempt to weaponize justice for political purposes, just what conservatives and Trump allies denounced last year, when, in the midst of the election campaign, she took the president to trial for alleged mortgage fraud.

The court case against James

Prosecutor James was indicted last week for allegedly obtaining a fraudulent mortgage to purchase a home in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020. Federal prosecutors contended that the loan required residency there for at least a year, but that the Democratic official rented the home to a family, violating the terms of the loan.

The prosecutor, who has not yet appeared in court—her initial hearing is scheduled for October 24 - called the accusations "unfounded" and attributed them to the "instrumentalization" of the Justice Department led by Attorney General Pam Bondi. If found guilty, James would automatically lose her office, according to state law.

The case has gained national notoriety because James was, for years, one of President Trump's chief political and judicial adversaries. Since the prosecution started in 2019, she has led the civil fraud lawsuit against the then-businessman and his companies, accusing them of inflating the value of his assets to gain a financial advantage.

Although a court upheld the existence of fraud, an appeals court slashed the $500 million fine with which the president was punished, claiming it violated the constitutional prohibition against "excessive fines." In that penalty, at least one of the judges stated that he would have dismissed the case altogether.