Letitia James ran for attorney general in 2018 on one platform – hunting Donald Trump.
Now a prosecutor inside her own office put it in writing and watched it get scrubbed from state servers.
That prosecutor isn't done talking and James can't stop who he talks to next.
New York AG Whistleblower Says He Was Ordered to Target Trump and Find Crimes
Daniel Wiesenfeld, an assistant attorney general in James's Investor Protection Bureau, sent an email to his 2,000-plus colleagues.
He said Bureau Chief Shamiso Maswoswe personally directed him "to find and pursue crimes committed by specific individuals and organizations affiliated with Donald Trump."
The targets, he wrote, included "Trump himself, Truth Social, Hewlett Packard" – despite what Wiesenfeld described as zero credible basis for pursuing any of them.
"If you believe Trump is using the [Department of Justice] attorneys to prosecute his enemies and further his political interests, you should find it equally troubling that Tish [James] is doing exactly the same thing," he wrote.
James's office moved fast.
The email was deleted from state servers and disappeared from every employee inbox.
James's general counsel followed up with her own agency-wide message reassuring staff it was "an internal matter" – which is what you say when an internal matter has already exploded.
Wiesenfeld, a former Brooklyn prosecutor with a track record in major financial fraud cases, wasn't finished.
He accused James of burning "significant public taxpayer dollars to target convenient public enemies" while ignoring rampant nonprofit homeless shelter fraud, Medicaid fraud, and antisemitic crimes in and around New York's synagogues.
New York's top law enforcement officer – prioritizing political theater over synagogue attacks.
FBI and DOJ Agents Sit for Hours With Letitia James Whistleblower Daniel Wiesenfeld
Wiesenfeld is now on paid administrative leave.
FBI and DOJ investigators – both criminal and civil – spent several hours with him, according to the Washington Examiner.
The scope of the federal interest remains unclear – meaning no one at DOJ is confirming how deep this goes.
James's office dismissed the controversy as a "personnel matter."
The White House wasn't buying that framing.
"This is more proof of the weaponization of the justice system by Leticia James to target President Trump and her political opponents," White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.
"The far-left Democrats lawfare against President Trump, his family, and allies must stop."
Alina Habba stood alongside Trump through every day of the New York civil fraud trial James engineered.
"She didn't find a crime and follow the evidence. She picked President Trump and went shopping for one."
James's office did not respond to requests for comment.
The Letitia James Weaponization Pattern Her Own Prosecutor Could Not Stay Silent About
James built a political career on the idea that she was the last honest cop in America – the fearless Democrat who followed the evidence wherever it led.
She campaigned on investigating Trump before she had seen a single document from his business.
Her office won a civil fraud judgment against him.
An appeals court upheld the fraud finding but threw out the more than $360 million financial penalty.
The federal mortgage fraud case James's critics were hoping would return the favor collapsed entirely – two separate grand juries refused to indict her, and a judge tossed the original indictment over an unlawful prosecutor appointment.
James escaped federal prosecution.
Trump spent years and hundreds of millions in legal fees fighting a case her office opened before anyone picked up the first file.
Now the woman who built a national brand on "I'm going to get Trump" has a prosecutor inside her office who told the world she ordered exactly that – and then sat down with the FBI.
Wiesenfeld knows what picking a defendant and inventing the charges looks like – he watched it happen from the inside of her bureau.
The email is gone from the servers.
The FBI interview has already taken place.
James spent eight years telling voters she was nothing like Trump – that she followed crimes, not targets.
One of her own prosecutors just told the FBI she wasn't.
Sources:
- "Federal investigators interviewed Letitia James whistleblower who said she ordered staff to target 'Trump himself,'" Washington Examiner, September 2, 2026.
- Margot Cleveland, "Whistleblower In NY AG's Office Says He Was Told To 'Target Trump,'" The Federalist, September 1, 2026.
- Amy Curtis, "Whistleblower Says Letitia James Ordered Him to Dig Up Dirt on Trump Allies," Townhall, August 31, 2026.
- Rusty Weiss, "Tish Got Caught Red-Handed: Prosecutor's Email Alleging a Trump Hunt Was Deleted From State Servers," RedState, August 31, 2026.
