Attorney General Pam Bondi was put in a very bad spot when William Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, referred New York Attorney General Letitia James for prosecution.
He laid out a case for mortgage fraud, but he appeared to have left out a key detail.
After an “illegal” U.S. attorney appointment resulted in the original indictment being dismissed, the grand jury declined to prosecute when Bondi refiled the case.
I have learned quite a bit about the law while digging into this case, discovering in particular that an interim U.S. attorney cannot be appointed for the same position twice in 120 days.
When an indictment against James was initially announced, and concerns were raised about the prosecutor, I had a hard time comprehending how the president and attorney general might not have the right to name a U.S. attorney of their choosing.
The problem is that when Trump pressured former U.S. Attorney Erik Seibert to resign and then appointed Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, he broke the aforementioned rule, so her appointment was deemed unlawful.
Hence, Halligan did not have the authority to seek an indictment of James, which is why the case was tossed without prejudice. It was a ruling based on a technical issue, not one that was made on the merits of the case.
I really dug into the controversy surrounding the original indictment, and I found out that both sides were telling a bit of a tale.
When James first filled out the mortgage paperwork in question, she initially stated that she would be the primary resident of the home at issue, even though the property was a secondary one for her.
However, she later amended the paperwork to reflect the fact that her niece was going to occupy the premises. This was conveniently left out of the initial indictment against James, and it is why she and her attorney were so confident they would beat the case.
James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, noted this in his argument, stating, "As I have set forth, the exhibits Director Pulte included with his letter are notable for the fact that he omitted numerous other records (some of which we have included) which refute the allegations of impropriety, and make clear that a mistake on one line had no significance.”
He added, "If there is anything that you believe I have not addressed in the real facts and documents provided, please let me know. Otherwise, we would expect a quick response confirming that this referral matter has been closed by the Department."
When the initial case was dismissed, Bondi had the option of appealing, dropping, or refiling, and she chose to refile. But now that all the information was out there in the public sphere, she would need to present the full picture to the grand jury, and as such, the grand jury denied the indictment.
This is not going to be good for Bondi, but it is not really her fault, or at least not completely her fault. When Pulte made this referral, it appears that he omitted the corrected forms in order to make it appear that James had done something illegal.
Even though I think it will be Bondi that faces the brunt of Trump’s wrath for James being let off the hook, if I were Trump, I would be asking for Pulte’s head on a platter.
