BURSTFormer Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said Friday it was a mistake for New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) to pledge during her previous campaign to "go after" President Trump, after she was indicted on allegations of mortgage fraud Thursday.
“Letitia James never should have made those comments. She never should have run on, 'I‘m going to go after him,' before she‘s seen the evidence, before she‘s had anything,” Kinzinger said during a Thursday appearance on CNN’s “AC360.”
“That was wrong. Not illegal. That was wrong,” he added.
The New York attorney general was indicted for mortgage fraud this week by Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, who was appointed after Trump expressed frustration that charges were not being brought against James and other political foes.
New York's top prosecutor, who successfully brought a fraud case against Trump before his reelection, is charged with bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution.
"This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system. I am not fearful — I am fearless," James said in a Thursday video statement posted to the social platform X.
"We will fight these baseless charges aggressively, and my office will continue to fiercely protect New Yorkers and their rights," she added.
During her victory speech after winning election in 2018, James said, “As the next attorney general of his home state, I will be shining a bright light into every dark corner of [Trump's] real estate dealings.”
She filed a civil suit against Trump in 2022, which resulted in a state judge fining him more than $350 million. That financial penalty was wiped away by an appeals court judge who found it excessive, however, Trump's liability in the case has been upheld.
Erik Siebert, the former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, resigned in September after telling senior Justice Department officials that his office found insufficient evidence to charge James.
On Thursday, CNN's Anderson Cooper agreed with Kinzinger’s statements during the segment, suggesting James was out of line for making plans to prosecute the president before he was elected.
Cooper said it was “not a great look for somebody who has just been elected, who has just been campaigning, who hasn‘t even looked, I guess, deeply at any evidence.”
However, CNN’s chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin disagreed.
“We live in a system where attorneys general and district attorneys in the United States, unlike almost any other country, are elected officials, are politicians. So they run for office making political statements. That's how our system works. … The other point to make, though, is just because she made inappropriate comments, that doesn't mean she should get indicted for fraud years later,” Toobin said.
“I mean, that's we're not supposed to work in a system of that kind of tit for tat. Criminal cases are supposed to stand or fall on their own merits,” he added.
James’s charges follow a federal indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, who was a key figure in investigations into Trump during his first term, and the president’s push to prosecute California Sen. Adam Schiff (D), who investigated the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
In late September, Trump in a post on Truth Social directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to take legal action against the three.
“They’re all guilty as hell,” Trump wrote.
The president added, “we can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” complaining of his impeachments and indictments.
Comey pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to Congress during a court hearing this week.