Shortly before 5pm on Thursday, it was reported that New York Attorney General Letitia James had been indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, on charges stemming from allegations of mortgage fraud. She was charged with one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement to a lending institution.. Minutes later at 5 o'clock, The Lead with Jake Tapper began on CNN with Tapper referring to the indictment as "Shocking breaking news."
Tapper seemed intent on immediately casting the indictment as political revenge by President Trump, in an effort to take away the legitimacy of the charges. "Welcome to The Lead, I'm Jake Tapper, and we start with some shocking breaking news in our law and justice lead...Two sources telling CNN that the Justice Department indicted yet another one of President Trump's perceived political opponents. This time it was New York Attorney General Letitia James. She was charged in Federal Court in a Grand Jury, In Alexandria Virginia today."
Trump's "perceived political opponent"? If a Republican official tried to ruin Jake Tapper's finances with a fraud lawsuit, would he call them a "perceived" enemy?
Instead of detailing the charges against James, Tapper immediately turned to his theme of revenge: "You will remember James brought civil fraud charges alleging financial fraud against Trump and his adult sons, and his real estate business in New York back in 2022. A Judge found them liable and ordered a $355 million dollar fine, which Trump appealed."
What should have come next, from a journalist, was, "Trump won the appeal this past August when a New York State Court of Appeals tossed the fine, which had ballooned to some $500 million dollars, noting that it was a violation of the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits excessive fines."
But Tapper said no such thing. Instead he continued pushing his take on the James indictment, "This obviously comes in the context of President Trump demanding that the Eastern District of Virginia, the U.S. Attorney there, carry out orders to go after his political opponents. James Comey who has been indicted, Letitia James, who as of today has been indicted. Democrat Senator Adam Schiff is the third that he mentioned in that public Truth Social Post that The Wall Street Journal reports was accidently posted publicly, was meant to be a private message to his Attorney General Pam Bondi."
At least a couple of Tapper's guests did provide some fair context to the charges facing James.
Former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore pointed out "Mortgage fraud is something that's been used in many circumstances. In other political cases...We sent Bernie Kerik (former New York City Police Commissioner) to jail for four years because he made a mistake on his mortgage application. So there is certainly precedent for this. And it is particularly interesting when Letitia James brought an almost identical case against Donald Trump in New York in the civil context."
And then CNN Senior Legal Analyst Ellie Honig must have sent shock waves through Tapper with this, "Look, Letitia James, there's no question, it's a fact. She politically targeted Donald Trump. She used her power as Attorney General to bring a ridiculous lawsuit against him, which has now been mostly vacated by the Court of Appeals."
Wow! Why didn't Tapper say that? He knows that. He also knows something that no one in that segment mentioned at all. When Letitia James ran for her office back in 2018, she vowed to sue, and be a real pain in the ass to the man she called an "illegitimate President, Donald Trump." I'd like to say that the fake news by omission put forth by Jake Tapper was, "shocking breaking news." Unfortunately, it's exactly what we've come to expect.
