WASHINGTON (AP) — New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted Thursday on mortgage fraud charges in a case that President Donald Trump urged his Justice Department to bring after he vowed retribution on his biggest political enemies.

James, a Democrat who infuriated Trump after his first term with a lawsuit alleging that he built his business empire on lies about his wealth, was charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a home purchase in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020.

The top federal prosecutor for eastern Virginia, a former Trump aide, personally presented the case to the grand jury weeks after she was thrust into the role amid the administration’s pressure to deliver charges.

The indictment, two weeks after a separate criminal case charging former FBI Director James Comey with lying to Congress, is the latest indication of the Trump administration’s norm-busting determination to use the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department to pursue the president’s political foes and public figures who once investigated him.

Both the Comey and James cases followed a strikingly unconventional paths toward indictment, with the Trump administration last month pushing out Erik Siebert, the veteran prosecutor who had overseen both investigations for months and had resisted pressure to file charges, and replacing him with Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide who has worked as lawyer for Trump but has never previously served as a federal prosecutor.

Halligan presented the case to the grand jury herself, as she did in the case against Comey, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In a lengthy statement, James decried the indictment as “nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.”

“These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost. The president’s actions are a grave violation of our Constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties,” she added.

She called the decision to fire Siebert and replace him with a prosecutor who is “blindly loyal” to the president as “antithetical to the bedrock principles of our country,” and she said she stood by her investigation of Trump and his company as having been “based on the facts and evidence — not politics.”

Abbe Lowell, James’ lawyer and a prominent attorney representing multiple Trump targets, said James “flatly and forcefully denies these charges.” James is scheduled to make an initial appearance in the federal court in Norfolk, Virginia, on Oct. 24.”We are deeply concerned that this case is driven by President Trump’s desire for revenge,” Lowell said in a statement. “When a President can publicly direct charges to be filed against someone — when it was reported that career attorneys concluded none were warranted — it marks a serious attack on the rule of law. We will fight these charges in every process allowed in the law.”

The indictment pertains to James’ purchase of a house in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020. During the sale, she signed a standard document called a “second home rider” in which she agreed to various rules, including a requirement that she keep the property primarily for her “personal use and enjoyment for at least one year,” unless the lender agreed otherwise in writing.

Rather than using the home as a second residence, the indictment alleges, James rented it out to a family of three. According to the indictment, the misrepresentation allowed James to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties.

In a post on X shortly after the indictment was handed up, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote, “One tier of justice for all Americans.”