New York Prosecutor Accuses AG James Office of Targeting Trump Allies
A New York prosecutor has accused the state Attorney General’s office of directing staff to hunt for crimes involving President Donald Trump and his business associates, according to a report. The allegation stems from an email sent by Assistant Attorney General Daniel Wiesenfeld, who works in the Investor Protection Bureau, the Times Union reported.
Wiesenfeld claimed that Office of the Attorney General head Shamiso Maswoswe ordered the targeting without a credible basis, the Times Union reported. He said the directive included Trump himself, Truth Social, and Hewlett Packard, among others.
Maswoswe, a former trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, was terminated in December 2017 under the first Trump administration and later filed a discrimination lawsuit alleging race, pregnancy and caregiving bias, court documents show.
In February 2021 she sued the DOJ, claiming unfair termination; the parties settled in 2023 for $795,000, a figure the DOJ said was a compromise of disputed claims and not an admission of discrimination.
The email allegedly was removed from the office’s servers, and a follow‑up message from Attorney General Letitia James’ counsel Kumiki Gibson labeled the matter “internal” and assured staff they were “not in danger,” the Times Union reported.
A spokesperson for James’ office told Fox News Digital that the issue was a personnel matter and reiterated the office’s commitment to uphold New York law without regard to political beliefs.
White House spokesperson Lauren Bis condemned the alleged directive, calling it “weaponization of the justice system” by James and urging an end to what she described as far‑left Democrats’ lawfare against Trump and his family.
The Office of the Attorney General has not yet responded to a request for comment, and the New York Post reported that Wiesenfeld has been placed on paid administrative leave.
James, a longtime critic of Trump, filed a civil fraud lawsuit against him and the Trump Organization in 2022 after campaigning on a promise to investigate his business practices; the case produced more than $450 million in penalties before an appeals court voided the financial penalty while upholding liability.
