By Stephen Witt
I smiled yesterday when I read that President Donald Trump’s Justice Department brought felony charges against New York Attorney General Letitia “Tish” James for bank fraud and making false claims to a financial institution that netted her nearly $19,000 in savings on a loan for a second home.
The charge is petty, but it is fair comeuppance for “Tish,” as she is known throughout Brooklyn. As a reporter, I covered this area for over twenty years before moving to Los Angeles and starting LosAngelesCountyPolitics.com (LACP). This include’s James’ rise through the New York City Council to the City’s Public Advocate position to her ascension to Attorney General.
In her role as the state’s top prosecutor, I also covered her issuing a report of sexual harassment allegations against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo – thinking it would lead her to the governor’s mansion.
James also made good on her re-election campaign promise to target and file charges against then-President Donald Trump. This resulted in Trump and his family being charged with embellishing the value of their properties to obtain favorable bank loans—charges that seem pretty nefarious, particularly in the world of NYC real estate.
For LA’s anti-Trump-no-matter-what crowd, please sit and read this column out. It is not intended to praise or defend our current president. It is to say that Tish is very similar to Trump in both her pettiness and ability to use the media to garner headlines.
Here’s a perfect example. In 2010, when working for a division of the New York Post, I received a tip that then-City Councilmember James was suing an elderly Black man who had a small business clearing out junk from people’s apartments.
Tish parked behind the man’s car, and after she got out, she illegally jaywalked between the two parked vehicles and bumped her shin against the man’s legally attached trailer hitch. This incensed James, so she retained one of the City’s most high-powered ambulance-chasing law firms to sue the man.
After I got wind and wrote the story and a few follow-up stories, she eventually dropped the charges, but this is an embodiment of her character. She has no qualms about going after people, big and small. And if she thinks it will help her political career, the more, the better.
Using the courts to pursue political opponents is not a good strategy in America, especially if you can’t beat them at the ballot box. So yes, Trump’s charges against James are petty and minor and may be dropped in court. But it would be karmetic justice if they stick.
I will give Tish James this much. Her acorn doesn’t fall far from the Donald Trump tree.
