President Donald Trump’s plans for revenge against his political enemies were disrupted yet again on Thursday after a grand jury declined to pursue charges against New York Attorney General Leticia James. The setback was the latest in a line of legal failures for Trump.
New York Attorney General Letitia James
The grand jury made a determination of “no true bill” in the case, where the Department of Justice had accused James of misleading a bank on a mortgage application. In a statement James said the allegations were “baseless” and part of a system of “unchecked weaponization of our justice system” under Trump.
The charges were pursued under orders from Trump, who pressured the previous U.S. attorney in Virginia to resign in September after he reportedly said there was no real case against James. Trump fumed at the time on his social media account that James is a “horror show” and claimed she is “corrupt” without offering any evidence to support his smear.
Trump has nursed a grudge against James for years after she took him to court and proved in a 2024 ruling that he committed fraud with his businesses in New York. In that case a judge ruled that Trump had falsely inflated his wealth on financial statements so he could do business with banks and other financial instititions.
The Virginia grand jury was just the Trump regime’s latest legal embarrassment.
In November, DOJ cases against James and former FBI Director James Comey were also thrown out by U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie after he determined that prosecutor Lindsey Halligan was illegally installed in her position. Halligan, a Trump loyalist who served as a White House aide, was put in her position as acting U.S. attorney after the existing Virginia-based prosecutor was forced out.
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Trump has long disliked Comey for exposing his attempts to manipulate the FBI investigation into Russian election interference on Trump’s behalf. Trump has argued that Comey was a “deep state” operative targeting him.
The Trump regime’s prosecutorial failures even extended into street-level sandwich crime.
Last month a Washington, D.C., jury dismissed charges against Sean C. Dunn, an Air Force veteran who threw a Subway sub at a Border Patrol officer. Dunn threw the sandwich in protest of the Trump-ordered deployment of federal officers to the capital.
Dunn was nicknamed “Sandwich Guy” and portrayed as a dangerous criminal by Fox News host-turned-U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.
During his presidential campaign in 2024, Trump vowed to go on a revenge tour against those who have opposed him once he regained power. To be sure, Trump has used the power of the federal government to hurt many people and has shown no signs of letting up—but he has also faced failure as well.
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A big reason is his choice to put super fans of his like Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel, and Pirro in positions of power and influence. While these figures are second to none in their fealty to Trump, they are clearly not skilled at working the legal system and are pushing vendetta-based cases that crumble under scrutiny.
Trump did not send his “best people” into the courts—and his revenge plans have suffered for it.
