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Letitia James reaps what she sows after leveling ‘laughable’ case at Trump: expert

The Trump administration’s criminal referral targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James for reported mortgage fraud likely never would have unfolded if not for the Democrat’s years of targeting the president in court, a New York City real estate attorney and expert told Fox News Digital.
«To be perfectly frank, this is a retaliatory case brought by the president for what the attorney general did to him over the last several years,» New York City attorney Pierre Debbas, partner and founding member of real estate law firm Romer Debbas, told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview Thursday morning. «Both cases, quite honestly, are very weak cases.
«The attorney general’s case that was brought against Donald Trump was honestly a pure manipulation of the legal system, and it was laughable,» he continued, referring to the civil fraud case she brought against Trump. «Something that’s never taken place in the history of New York that was isolated at one particular person for a politically driven purpose.
«Now, on the flip side, this serves the same purpose, right? This is the president’s way of seeking retaliation against the attorney general for something that, in reality, is, while it’s considered mortgage fraud, it’s not criminal,» he continued. «And it’s not something that would have been brought upon had the attorney general not pursued a similar case with low merit against the president a few years back.»
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REFERS NY AG LETITIA JAMES FOR POSSIBLE PROSECUTION OVER ALLEGATIONS OF MORTGAGE FRAUD
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference Sept. 21, 2022, in New York. (Brittainy Newman, File/The Associated Press )
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), an independent federal agency that oversees Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank System, sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice Monday arguing the attorney general appeared to have falsified mortgage records to obtain more favorable loans.
At the heart of the case is a Norfolk, Virginia, home James purchased in 2023, which she identified on mortgage documents and a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac form as a property that would serve as her primary residence, according to the FHFA letter dated Monday. James is legally required to live in New York as a statewide elected official in the Empire State, the letter adds.
Identifying a home as a primary residence versus a secondary home or vacation home comes with financial incentives, Debbas explained, because banks will offer lower interest rates to primary residences, with homeowners less likely to default on such loans compared to a second home.
«As a real estate attorney, we represent every major lending institution in the country,» he said. «And a common underwriting requirement for banks is to solidify what the use of the property is going to be, meaning, is it a primary residence, second home or investment property.
«And the reason banks do that is that clearly there’s a higher rate of default when it comes to investment properties and second homes as opposed to primary residences.»

The Trump administration’s criminal referral targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James for reported mortgage fraud likely never would have unfolded if not for the Democrat’s years of targeting the president in court, a New York City real estate attorney and expert told Fox News Digital. (Seth Wenig, Pool/The Associated Press)
«The reason being is people, you know, don’t want to leave their homes,» he said. «Now, a second home investment property, you may be a little more inclined to throw the keys to the bank.»
COURT NAMES NEW JUDGE IN TRUMP CIVIL FRAUD CASE BEFORE REASSIGNING PREVIOUS JUDGE HOURS LATER
The bank then requires the borrower to sign an affidavit confirming that the home being acquired will be used as a primary residence, he explained.
«Now, if that is not the intent or that is in fact inaccurate, and you sign that agreement, you are in fact committing mortgage fraud,» he said. «And the bank relies on that agreement in giving you the loan. Now, would they have given you a loan if it were a second home? Potentially, but the difference is the interest rate would be significantly higher.»
The bank’s recourse when discovering such mortgage fraud related to misidentifying a property as a primary residence to obtain more favorable loan terms is «simply to call the loan,» he said.

State Attorney General Letitia James is a longtime political foe of President Donald Trump who campaigned for the attorney general job in 2018 by vowing to aggressively pursue legal charges against Trump if elected. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
«They would call the loan, force you to pay it off by a certain date,» he said. «If you’re unable to sell the property or take other liquidity that you have to pay off the loan, they have the right to pursue a foreclosure action. They’d be legally granted this right. It would be very difficult to contest under those circumstances because, technically speaking, this is a default and this is fraud.»
The New York City real estate attorney added that this type of fraud is common.
LONGTIME TRUMP FOE LETITIA JAMES REVIEWING POSSIBLE INSIDER TRADING OVER PRESIDENT’S TARIFF PAUSE
«What extent is it fraud? To be quite honest with you, this is a very common thing that does take place in the real estate market,» he said. «I’m not saying it’s right. I’m not saying Letitia James … the full extent of the law shouldn’t be applied to her. But it is something that takes place. Because if the loan is current, the bank hasn’t really suffered any detriment, but it’s still mortgage fraud. So that doesn’t take away the fraud component to this.»
Debbas argued this type of fraud does not rise to the level of criminal activity because the bank can call the loan, take back the property or force it to be liquidated.

«The attorney general’s case that was brought against Donald Trump was honestly a pure manipulation of the legal system, and it was laughable,» New York City attorney Pierre Debbas said, referring to the civil fraud case she brought against Trump. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
James’ office told The New York Times that a separate loan application for the 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home purchase reportedly indicated she would not live at the property full time, and that her mortgage agreement did not require her to occupy the property as her primary residence.
James is a longtime political foe of Trump’s who campaigned for the attorney general job in 2018 by vowing to aggressively pursue legal charges against Trump if elected, adding she’d expose the «con man» after her win that year.
Her office leveled nearly 100 legal challenges against the first Trump administration and added after his second presidential win in 2024 that she would continue challenging him in the courts to «defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law.»
NY AG LETITIA JAMES SKEWERED FOR ‘DISTASTEFUL’ REMARKS AFTER TRUMP VICTORY: ‘UTTER ARROGANCE’
Most notably, James pursued a civil fraud case against Trump and the Trump Organization for inflating the values of properties to obtain more favorable loans, insurance coverage and tax deductions, which resulted in a $454 million judgment in 2024.
A spokesperson for James’ office told Fox Digital Thursday that «multiple times during the attorney general’s trial against President Trump and the Trump Organization for years of financial fraud, President Trump’s attorneys repeatedly made the argument that the attorney general’s lawsuit was politically motivated.
«Every single time, the judge rejected that argument and even sanctioned the attorneys for making it,» the spokesperson added. «Attorney General James won her lawsuit, and the judgment against President Trump now exceeds half a billion dollars.»
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley noted the irony of Trump’s criminal referral over allegations of James fudging numbers to obtain more favorable loans after pursing Trump for something similar.
«This is a person who prosecuted Trump for everything short of ripping a label off a mattress, and among the charges that were brought in New York, in not just the civil but the criminal case, was making false or misleading statements to financial institutions,» the legal scholar said on Fox News’ «The Ingraham Angle» Tuesday. «As for James, if we apply the Letitia James standard that she created, there’d be little question here. This seems pretty straightforward.»
The administration is looking into the allegations put forth by the FHFA while underscoring that «no one is above the law,» White House spokesman Harrison Fields said on Newsmax Wednesday.
«With the Democratic Party, they love to throw stones in glass homes when they realize that they’re committing the crimes that they’re actually trying to go against,» Fields said.
«So, this is now a criminal referral that the Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi will have to look at,» he added. «The allegations from the FHFA are very serious. We’re going to look at them, and no one is above the law. And Tish James, she’d like to say that about the president, but she should look in the mirror and realize that if you have skeletons in your closets about abusing the law and doing illegal things, maybe you shouldn’t be purveying around like some justice queen, because you’re not.»
NY AG LETITIA JAMES RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS OF MORTGAGE FRAUD
The criminal referral also cited past reported issues with James’ properties, including a 2001 purchase of a Brooklyn property. The certificate of occupancy lists the property as a five-unit residence, while James’ mortgages list the property as four units.
Debbas explained that five-unit properties are identified as commercial properties, which would require a commercial loan that has higher interest rates than a residential loan. However, the banks carry the burden of confirming whether a building is commercial or residential.
«If the borrower has the ability to tell the bank or convince the bank that it’s actually four units, it’s to their financial benefit,» he said. «Now, when you look at a certificate of occupancy, certificate of the occupancy is issued by the Department of Buildings, which tells you the legal use of the building.

Letitia James’ office leveled nearly 100 legal challenges against the first Trump administration and said after his second presidential win in 2024 she would continue challenging him in the courts to «defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law.» (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
«This is a five-family dwelling,» he said. «Now, this is unequivocally a commercial property. The burden was on the bank to confirm this, but if the borrower did, in fact, have concrete knowledge … an argument can be made that mortgage fraud did take place in the application of this law.»
James’ office told The New York Times a rider attached to the Brooklyn mortgage stated the building was four units, not five.
Debbas added that before the 2008 market crash, there was a lot of «shadiness» in the world of mortgages.
«As an elected official … there should be a heightened standard for honesty and obliging by your legal requirements not falsifying documents or committing fraud,» Debbas said.
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While reflecting specifically on the Virginia home alleged mortgage fraud, he added, «Now, how would this impact her seating as attorney general of the state of New York? At the end of the day, that’s going to be determined largely based on how many enemies she’s created. But from a purely mortgage standpoint, it is certainly mortgage fraud, but, in my opinion, it does not warrant any criminal activity.»
A spokesperson for James’ office said Wednesday morning she has been «focused every single day on protecting New Yorkers, especially as this administration weaponizes the federal government against the rule of law and the Constitution. She will not be intimidated by bullies — no matter who they are,» Fox Digital previously reported.
Donald Trump,New York,New York City,Politics,In Court
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Pro-life group celebrates Planned Parenthood’s closing of remaining Louisiana facilities: ‘Huge success’

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EXCLUSIVE: Planned Parenthood is set to shutter its last two Louisiana facilities next month, a move pro-life advocates say represents «success» amid efforts to shut down the organization.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, 40 Days for Life CEO and founder Shawn Carney said the closure of the clinics is a «huge victory» for the entire pro-life movement and his organization, which has prayed and held vigils outside Planned Parenthood facilities for roughly 20 years.
«The only remaining Planned Parenthoods in the state of Louisiana, in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, are closing because they can’t do abortions there,» Carney said. «Planned Parenthood survives financially on abortions, and they survive financially on the American taxpayer. This is a huge success for the pro-life movement.»
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast — which runs six clinics in the Houston, Texas, area and two in Louisiana — announced it will close its Baton Rouge and New Orleans clinics on Sept. 30.
PRO-LIFE GROUP ‘ELATED’ AFTER PLANNED PARENTHOOD SHUTTERS HOUSTON FACILITIES: ‘TREMENDOUS VICTORY’
Shawn Carney, CEO and founder of 40 Days for Life, stated the closure of more Planned Parenthood facilities is a «huge victory» for the pro-life movement. (Fox News Digital/Landon Mion)
Planned Parenthood previously announced the closure of the Prevention Park and Southwest centers in the Houston area, one of which was the largest abortion facility in the Western Hemisphere. The remaining Houston facilities will be acquired by the organization’s largest Texas affiliate.
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast President Melaney Linton said in a statement that the closures in Louisiana are a «direct result of relentless political assaults.»
«This is not a decision we wanted to make; it is one we were forced into by political warfare,» she wrote. «Anti-reproductive health lawmakers obsessed with power and control have spent decades fighting the concept that people deserve to control their own bodies.»
Linton said «extremist» Republican lawmakers have done everything in their power to defund Planned Parenthood, adding: «Every health center closure, every patient who goes without care, every undetected cancer and untreated infection is on those lawmakers’ hands.»
Facilities in GOP-led states with abortion restrictions, including Louisiana and Texas, have also been forced to cease the procedures following the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe V. Wade and returned the power to make laws regarding abortion back to the states.
GOP officials in recent years have made repeated attempts to shut down Planned Parenthood, even after nearly all abortions were banned under state law in Louisiana and Texas, as well as other Republican-controlled states.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) celebrated the pending closures of the remaining Planned Parenthood facilities in the state in a post on X, writing that abortion «should NEVER be considered healthcare.» (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry wrote on X that the Planned Parenthood closures in his state mark a «major win for the pro-life movement» in his state, adding that he has fought to «rid our state of this failed organization» and that abortion «should NEVER be considered healthcare.»
The state’s Attorney General Liz Murrill, also a Republican, wrote that the Planned Parenthood clinic closures are «welcome news.»
«Planned Parenthood built its business around promoting death. Louisiana chooses life. We will always protect women and babies,» she wrote.
While Planned Parenthood is not allowed to provide abortion procedures in Louisiana, it has helped women access out-of-state abortions.
EX-PLANNED PARENTHOOD DIRECTOR CELEBRATES CLOSURE OF HOUSTON FACILITIES: ‘NOT SHOCKING’
Planned Parenthood facilities have been shuttering in various states across the country, including California and New York, where the organization is selling its only Manhattan health center building for $39 million.
«This will be the 40th Planned Parenthood to close in 2025,» Carney said. I suspect before September 30, which is the end of their fiscal year, that we will see about 25 to 30 more Planned Parenthoods close, maybe more.»

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast announced it will close its Baton Rouge and New Orleans clinics on Sept. 30. (Getty Images)
The Trump administration has sought to impose funding cuts to Planned Parenthood that could lead to the closure of additional facilities. A provision in a GOP-backed spending bill would end Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from the program in 2023, although that provision is facing legal challenges and has been blocked, at least for now, by a federal judge.
«Planned Parenthood is in the worst shape in their entire history, and they were before the fall of Roe V. Wade and before their defunding,» Carney said.
Carney predicted that Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country will continue to merge, just as Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast is set to do. Former Planned Parenthood clinic director turned pro-life activist Abby Johnson recently made a similar prediction in an interview with Fox News Digital.
«The suffering ones, like Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, will end up merging with some of these other affiliates that they used to just compete against for abortion numbers,» Carney said. «I think you’ll see these closures lead to them not rebuilding, but just going away in some parts of the country and merging with other affiliates throughout the rest of America.»

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast President Melaney Linton said the closures in Louisiana are a «direct result of relentless political assaults.» (Getty Images)
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«If they’re a nonprofit, they can go out and do what all nonprofits do, what we do and churches do, and that’s go out and raise money,» he continued. «And if people want to support your mission, they will. You shouldn’t be dependent on the federal government, and this just highlighted how dependent they were.»
Carney also noted that Planned Parenthood lost 78,000 individual donors last year, emphasizing that the organization is not only at risk of potentially losing public funding.
Addressing Planned Parenthood’s claim that abortions make up only 3% of its services, Carney said that is «complete garbage» and pointed to the shuttering of facilities in Republican-controlled states with abortion bans.
«It’s like McDonald’s saying that only 3% of their business is selling french fries,» he said. «If that were true, they wouldn’t be closing all these facilities in pro-life states where you can’t do abortions. So that’s hardly believable anymore in 2025.»
exclusive,abortion,politics,louisiana,us,donald trump,supreme court
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ISIS soldiers behead Christians in Mozambique, burning church and homes: ‘Silent genocide’

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International observers are reporting that ISIS-aligned soldiers are beheading Christians and burning churches and homes in central and southern Africa – with some of the most brutal attacks happening in the nation of Mozambique.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) – a counter-terrorism research nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. – is sounding that alarm about what it describes as a «silent genocide» taking place against Christians.
The Islamic State Mozambique Province (ISMP) recently released 20 photos boasting of four attacks on «Christian villages» in the Chiure district, in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, according to MEMRI.
MEMRI said the photos show ISIS operatives raiding villages and burning a church and homes. The images also allegedlydepict the beheadings of a member of what the jihadists consider «infidel militias» and two Christian civilians. Rampaging jihadist groups celebrated the killings. Photos also showed the corpses of several members of those so-called «infidel militias,» according to the institute’s analysis.
«What we see in Africa today is a kind of silent genocide or silent, brutal, savage war that is occurring in the shadows and all too often ignored by the international community,» MEMRI Vice President Alberto Miguel Fernandez told Fox News Digital.
ISLAMIST TERRORISTS KILL 49 CHRISTIANS IN AFRICAN CHURCH MASSACRE; EYEWITNESS REVEALS HORRIFIC DETAILS
ISIS operatives raided Christian villages and burned homes in Mozambique. (Middle East Media Research Institute)
«That jihadist groups are in a position to take over not one, not two, but several countries in Africa – take over the whole country or most of several countries – is dangerous,» Fernandez, a former U.S. diplomat, said. «It’s very dangerous for the national security of the United States let alone the security of the poor people who are there – Christians or Muslims or whoever they are.»
The Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) also recently released several photos of their own documenting a July 27 attack against the Christian village of Komanda in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ituri province. Islamic State-affiliated soldiers opened fire at a Catholic Church and set fire to homes, stores, vehicles and possessions. At least 45 people were killed, according to MEMRI. The photos show burning facilities and the corpses of Christians.
Fernandez explained to Fox News Digital that the goal of these jihadist groups is «eliminating Christian communities,» as they push down from safe havens and Muslims are «given a choice: ‘either join us or you too will face killing and annihilation.’»
«Christians, of course, are not going to be asked to join,» Fernandez told Fox News Digital. «Christians are going to be targeted and destroyed.»
The United Nations migration agency said Monday that attacks by insurgents in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province displaced more than 46,000 people in the span of eight days last month.
The International Organization for Migration said nearly 60% of those forced from their homes were children.

ISIS fighters set fire to Christian villages in Mozambique. (Middle East Media Research Institute)
In a separate report, the U.N.’s humanitarian office said the wave of attacks between July 20 and July 28 across three districts in Cabo Delgado caused the surge in displacements.
While the United Nations references attacks, its reporting has not detailed deaths or specified the targets. At least nine Christians in the Cabo Delgado province were reportedly killed in separate attacks by Islamic insurgents during that timeframe.
«I’m no fan of the United Nations in general, but I think what they’re doing is kind of the lowest common denominator,» Fernandez told Fox News Digital. «It’s kind of easy to be vague like that. The fact that some of this and some of the worst of it is happening because of a deep anti-Christian animus, hatred of Christians, religiously-based hatred of Christians is something that the UN usually doesn’t like to talk about.»
Fighters from Islamic State Mozambique allegedly captured and beheaded six Christians in the village of Natocua in the Ancuabe district of Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Province on July 22, according to MEMRI.
POPE LEO XIV CONDEMNS BRUTAL MACHETE ATTACK THAT KILLED 49 CHRISTIANS DURING PRAYER IN DR CONGO
Barnabas Aid, an international Christian charity, pointed to reporting by the Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium claiming another three Christians were slaughtered in the Chiure district in attacks on July 24 and 25.
The southern African nation has been fighting an insurgency by Islamic State-affiliated militants in the north for at least eight years. Rwandan soldiers have been deployed to help Mozambique fight them.

Structures burned in Mozambique ISIS attacks. (Middle East Media Research Institute)
The jihadist groups have been accused of beheading villagers and kidnapping children to be used as laborers or child soldiers. The U.N. estimates that the violence, and the impact of drought and several cyclones in recent years, has led to the displacement of more than 1 million people in northern Mozambique.
Fernandez said that he feels the Trump administration «has refreshingly been tough and strong when it comes to jihadist terrorism» – but what’s happening in Africa typically does not receive as much attention compared to the Middle East. He pointed to how Trump’s intervention in the U.S. brokering a ceasefire deal between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo helps offset jihadist groups that take advantage of security vacuums and ungoverned spaces to expand control.
Fernandez also warned about the threat of jihadist ideology. After the Islamic State was «very strongly defeated» in the Middle East during Trump’s first administration, he said branches are now looking to weaker territories to expand their influence.
«It’s kind of like a whack-a-mole situation,» Fernandez said, explaining that the Islamic State not long ago controlled a pseudo-state the size of the United Kingdom between Syria and Iraq. «What we need to see is them to be utterly defeated in Africa, so people will say, people on the sidelines or people on defense will say, ‘Well obviously these people did not have the mandate of Allah, the mandate God, they were losers, they lost.’ That’s what we need.»
Doctors Without Borders said it has launched an emergency response to help thousands of recently displaced people who now live in camps in Chiure district.

Vehicles set on fire by ISIS soldiers in Africa. (Middle East Media Research Institute)
Cabo Delgado has large offshore natural gas reserves, and the insurgency caused the suspension of a $20 billion extraction project by French company TotalEnergies in 2021.
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Meanwhile, the Congolese army said last month that attacks in the village of Komanda in the conflict-battered region were carried out by the Allied Democratic Force, which is backed by the Islamic State. The group has mostly targeted villagers in eastern Congo and across the border in Uganda. ADF leaders pledged allegiance in 2019 to the Islamic State and have sought to establish an Islamic caliphate in Uganda.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
africa,christianity religion,terrorism
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