Ken Dilanian: N.Y. AG Letitia James ‘Pleads Not Guilty to Both Charges’

RUSH EXCERPT:
DILANIAN: "Yeah. Well, it was a pro forma arraignment. Justice James pled not guilty to both charges. The charges were read. And, you know, there were arrangements made for her release on her own recognizance. Before the hearing. She was booked and processed by the FBI. And then there was some talk of some of the motions and some schedules for hearings in December on the various ways that the defense is going to attack this case. I think one of the most interesting things that happened today, actually, though, was that we were able to confirm the existence of a memo written by one of the career prosecutors who investigated this case and then was fired. And that memo suggested that the evidence may be even weaker than the evidence that we’re seeing right now. Remember that prosecutors allege that the prophet that James made on this mortgage favorable interest rate, they allege that she got on the second home amounted to about $50 a month. But this memo said it actually may have been as small as $15 a month. And the memo also said that the rules about occupancy and the difference between a second home and an investment property are so opaque that it may be difficult to support the idea that there was any criminal intent in this case. And for that reason, this career prosecutor recommended that the case shouldn’t go forward. Now, this is separate from the U.S. Attorney, the Trump appointed U.S. attorney who was fired because he also didn’t want to bring the case. This is the career criminal chief here in norfolk, Elizabeth uc, who looked at this and said, look, there’s no there there. She wrote this memo. She and her deputy have been fired. The U.S. attorney was fired. And Lindsey Halligan is moving forward with this case. And it just underscores the unusual nature of this whole process and the fact that, again, career people have looked at this and said, this is not a case that Justice Department should be prosecuting."