Overview
- James filed the dismissal motion Friday, arguing the case is a politically driven retaliation by President Trump for her civil fraud suit against him.
- She is charged in the Eastern District of Virginia with bank fraud and making a false statement over a Norfolk home prosecutors say she treated as an investment despite a loan requiring it be a secondary residence.
- James has pleaded not guilty and said the administration is using the justice system as a tool of revenge.
- The indictment followed the departure of career prosecutor Erik Siebert and the installation of Lindsey Halligan, a Trump-aligned interim U.S. attorney with no prior prosecutorial experience, who presented the case to a grand jury.
- The Justice Department declined comment, prosecutors are due to respond later this month, and legal experts note vindictive-prosecution claims rarely succeed even as some see unusually strong arguments echoing those raised by James Comey.