In February 2024, New York Attorney General Letitia James posted on X, “When powerful people cheat to get better loans, it comes at the expense of hardworking people. Everyday Americans cannot lie to a bank to get a mortgage, and if they did, our government would throw the book at them. There simply cannot be different rules for different people.”
That same month, James wrote, “Roses are red. Violets are blue. No one is above the law. Even when you think the rules don’t apply to you. Happy Valentine’s Day!”
What a professional! Pure class. It seems Democrats have concluded that becoming as unpleasant as President Donald Trump is the answer to all their problems.
Now, it’s James who has been charged with bank fraud and making a false statement to a Virginia financial institution.
The government is alleging she bought a home in Norfolk using a mortgage loan that required James to use the property as her secondary residence. The terms of the mortgage forbid her from using the home as an investment property, but that is exactly what she is accused of doing.
According to the BBC, “The indictment claims the property ‘was not occupied or used’ by James as a secondary residence, but was instead ‘used as a rental investment property,’ which was being rented to a family of three. The ‘misrepresentation’ allowed James to obtain favourable loan terms that would not have been available for an investment property.”
In response, James said, “I am a proud woman of faith, and I know that faith and fear cannot share the same space. And so today I am not fearful, I am fearless, and as my faith teaches me, no weapon formed against me shall prosper.”
It was this same “fearless” “woman of faith” who told a community activist, on camera, in 2018 while she was running for office, “Oh, we’re gonna definitely sue him [Trump], we’re gonna be a real pain in the ass, he’s gonna know my name personally.”
If the charges against James are true, I can’t imagine they’ll be terribly hard to prove, but many people seem nonplussed by the whole affair.
These folks are making arguments that fall into two general categories. The first category is to ignore the charges against James altogether and focus instead on the fact Trump wanted them brought. They view the charges as “political retribution.”
But even if they are “retribution” for her targeting of Donald Trump in 2024, she still may be guilty as sin.
Is that irrelevant?
In essence, Democrats making this argument are telling the Trump administration, “Hey, you can’t do that! Only we’re allowed to do that!”
The second argument being made in defense of James is that what she did is no big deal. Everybody does it.
This is the argument CNN anchor Kasie Hunt made when she claimed James’ alleged crime is “something that everyone in America” does.
Hunt said, “We’re still getting the details, but if it’s related to this mortgage issue, I mean, this is something that everyone in America, or many people at least, if you’re lucky enough to be able to buy a house in America, you deal with this, right? The federal government doesn’t go after all of these people for doing this.”
Therefore, James is immune from prosecution for lying to a bank? Why, because she’s so important?
One would think James, of all people, would know better than to lie to a bank. “Most people” are not the New York attorney general, the top legal officer in the state, an office James won in large part by promising to target for prosecution a former and future president of the United States.
How many times did she tell us, “No one is above the law.” Perhaps she should have added, “except me.”
I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t believe there is an element of “political retribution” to the charges against James, and I’m sure Trump is enjoying watching James be hoisted with her own petard. But that doesn’t mean she is innocent of the charges against her.
Maybe now both sides will get the message. What goes around comes around. Mutually assured destruction has proven sound military doctrine for decades when it comes to deterring nuclear war. Perhaps Democrats and Republicans should look for applications of that doctrine to their relationships with each other.
“The noblest kind of retribution is not to become like your enemy.” — Marcus Aurelius
Chris Roemer resides in Finksburg. He can be contacted at chrisroemer1960@gmail.com.
