Another prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Virginia may soon face the choice of resigning or being fired for balking at President Trump’s demands to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges relating to a property purchase in Virginia.
MSNBC, citing information culled from two unnamed sources, is reporting that Elizabeth Yusi “has confided to co-workers that she sees no probable cause to believe James engaged in mortgage fraud. Yusi plans to present her conclusion to the president’s new interim US attorney, Lindsey Halligan, in the coming weeks.”
If MSNBC’s reporting is accurate, Yusi’s actions would mirror Interim US Attorney Erik Siebert, who resigned last month for refusing to bring charges against James based on a criminal referral made by Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. James is a longtime political foe of Trump, and he used social media to order Attorney General Pam Bondi to indict James.
Yusi has been with the Department of Justice for 18 years and has been a US Assistant Attorney for the last 10 years.
James’ lawyer, Abbe Lowell, stated that she checked “no” on the loan application regarding if the Virginia property would be a primary residence, adding she sent an email to her mortgage broker reaffirming that status, but that the power-of-attorney form mistakenly listed the house as a primary residence.
