Leader Jeffries and Leader Schumer File Joint Amicus Brief Supporting Legal Defense of Attorney General Tish James and Slam Trump & DOJ for “Blatantly Biased Prosecution”

Washington, D.C. – Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) led an amicus brief in support of the defense of New York Attorney General Tish James in the face of a blatantly biased and political prosecution by the Department of Justice, which is heeding the lawless demands of a president bent on vengeance, not justice. The amicus brief follows her indictment by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) filed the following amicus brief in support of New York Attorney General Tish James, who has been unjustly indicted in Eastern District of Virginia, by an unqualified pawn of President Trump, following pressure from the Trump administration and the president to go after his perceived “political enemies.”

In September, President Trump, on Truth Social, called Tish James, “guilty as hell” and said that “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”. This statement is clear evidence of the vendetta President Trump holds after AG James led an investigation of the then-former president’s company, the Trump Organization, leading to a civil fraud judgment against Trump last year. Just over two weeks after his Truth Social post, AG James was indicted in Virginia. Leader Schumer and Leader Jeffries are writing to the court to strongly concur with AG James’s lawyers’ argument that this case is threadbare on the merits and a biased political persecution.

“Donald Trump has corruptly weaponized the criminal justice system into his own personal retribution service, and he continues to disgrace the presidency and the country by violating the law with reckless abandon,” said Leader Jeffries. “The prosecution of Attorney General Tish James has no legitimate basis in law or fact and was brought by a woefully incompetent political hack. The American people are not fooled by Trump’s shameful attempt to bend the Department of Justice to his will. It will not stand.”

“This political witch hunt is an unfortunate representation of the Trump administration – vindictive, contemptuous of the rule of law, and corrupt,” said Leader Schumer. “After one U.S. attorney rejected this case, Trump handpicked an unqualified crony to go forward with the investigation and prosecution. This is not justice – it’s revenge. Every American – and court of law – should soundly reject this alarming lurch into authoritarianism and President Trump’s clear decision to use the Justice Department as his own partisan attack dog. No one is above the law. And no one should be able to pervert it for their benefit.”

The full amicus brief can be seen here.