New York Attorney General Letitia James has battled big tech, opioid manufacturers and the National Rifle Association
It was January 2004 and Donald Trump and Letitia James, a fellow New Yorker who would become his nemesis, were embarking on new ventures that would launch their political careers.
Trump’s show “The Apprentice,” which introduced him to a new generation of Americans, premiered on NBC. James was sworn in as a newly elected member of the New York City Council, representing Brooklyn.
James became New York’s attorney general in 2019 and began a legal feud with Trump that has persisted.
She’s battled big tech, opioid manufacturers and the National Rifle Association. But it is the Democrat’s barrage of lawsuits against Trump, suing him for fraud and challenging his Republican administration’s policies, that has shaped her tenure and drawn his ire.
Now, Trump is fighting back. After pressuring his Justice Department, James was indicted Thursday on mortgage fraud charges. She has denied wrongdoing and accused Trump of weaponizing the criminal justice system for revenge.
James, 66, and her seven siblings grew up in Brooklyn, where she still lives. Her father worked in maintenance and her mother, Nellie, worked in customer service for AT & T.
James graduated from Lehman College of the City University of New York and Howard University School of Law. Before entering politics, she was a public defender and an assistant state attorney general.
James ran for city council in 2001 but lost to a former police officer, James Davis, in a primary that was delayed by the Sept. 11 attacks. Davis was killed at City Hall two years later by a political rival. James went on to win the election to replace Davis and held the seat from 2004 to 2013.
James was the city’s public advocate, an elected ombudsman position, from 2013 to 2018.
