Before New York Attorney General Letitia James even held that office, she campaigned on a platform that included a targeted investigation of the National Rifle Association, which she called a “criminal enterprise.” After she won election, one of her first acts was to initiate that investigation, which ultimately led to a civil lawsuit filed by James seeking to dissolve the NRA entirely.
James’s investigation into the NRA was a politically motivated witch hunt that unfortunately discovered a small coven of NRA executives, including Wayne LaPierre, who were ultimately found liable for millions of dollars in misspent funds.
The NRA wasn’t the only political target of the New York AG, of course. James also filed a civil suit against Donald Trump, which resulted in a jury finding Trump liable for inflating his net worth in order to get better terms on financial deals.
After Trump was sworn in for his second term, the Department of Justice empaneled a grand jury to investigate James’s decisions to go after the NRA and the president. The grand jury issued two subpoenas for records related to those investigations, but James has fought the disclosure of those materials.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield presided over a hearing that could determine whether these investigations will move forward, and it may all come down to deciding whether the Acting U.S. Attorney in charge of the investigation is legally on the job.
Sarcone has functioned as the Acting U.S. attorney in Northern New York, but a panel of judges in July refused to permanently appoint him to lead the office following his controversial interim tenure. In response, Attorney General Pam Bondi named him as a “special attorney to the attorney general” who can indefinitely serve as northern New York’s top federal prosecutor.
Similar legal standoffs have sprouted across the country over the last few months, as federal courts have disqualified the U.S. attorneys in Nevada, California, and New Jersey. In each case, the Trump administration’s original picks to lead the office have remained in charge, bucking the long-standing practice of having the Senate confirm the president’s picks for the positions.
One of those legal standoffs has been centered in Virginia, where Trump appointed Lindsey Halligan to serve as Acting U.S. Attorney after the previous Acting U.S. Attorney stepped down. Last month a federal judge ruled that Halligan was illegally serving in that role and tossed out the indictments she had brought against James for mortgage fraud and former FBI Director James Comey for making a false statement to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation.
If Schofield concludes that Acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone was unlawfully appointed to that position, she too could throw out the subpoenas issued by the grand jury he empaneled. The judge doesn’t have to do that, though. In other cases where judges have ruled a U.S. Attorney was not validly appointed, they’ve declined to toss out every prosecution or shut down every investigation launched during their tenure, generally ruling that since non-political appointees were involved in the filing of those indictments the cases could proceed.
I would hate to see this investigation thrown out on a technicality like that, but it may very well happen. If the judge does rule that the subpoenas are null and void, expect the DOJ to appeal that decision to the Second Circuit and Supreme Court if necessary. I don’t think Trump or Attorney General Pam Bondi would be willing to sit back and take the loss, at least not without first exhausting every avenue possible to move the investigation forward.
Editor’s Note: President Trump is taking historic steps to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
Help us continue to report on those efforts. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.
Read the full article here
