Report: Letitia James Prosecutor Says He Was Told To Target Trump Allies

New York Attorney General Letitia James is facing a stunning accusation from inside her own office.

Assistant Attorney General Daniel Wiesenfeld claimed he was instructed “to find and pursue crimes committed by specific individuals and organizations affiliated with Donald Trump,” according to an agency-wide email obtained by the Times Union.

The Friday email reportedly landed in the inboxes of more than 2,000 employees before abruptly vanishing from the office’s computer servers.

Wiesenfeld, a prosecutor in the office’s Investor Protection Bureau, specifically accused bureau chief Shamiso Maswoswe of directing him to target Trump, his Truth Social platform and Hewlett Packard without a credible underlying reason.

The reference to Hewlett Packard apparently involved Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, a deal James’ office has opposed despite its approval by the Justice Department.

Wiesenfeld accused the attorney general’s office of spending taxpayer money pursuing politically convenient enemies while failing to act aggressively against nonprofit homeless-shelter fraud and antisemitic crimes near synagogues.

He also urged his colleagues to prosecute known crimes and identify those responsible instead of “targeting individuals and then finding crimes,” the Times Union reported.

The email was quickly followed by another agency-wide message from James’ general counsel, Kumiki Gibson, describing the controversy as an “internal” matter and assuring employees that no one was in danger.

James’ office then placed Wiesenfeld on administrative leave with full pay.

“This is a personnel matter,” a spokesperson told the Daily Caller, adding that the office protects New Yorkers regardless of their political beliefs and “strongly reject[s] any assertion to the contrary.”

Wiesenfeld is no fringe employee. A former Brooklyn assistant district attorney, he recently worked on one of James’ major cases: an April lawsuit accusing Coinbase and Gemini of operating illegal prediction-market gambling platforms in New York, according to the attorney general’s office.

The allegations are especially explosive given James’ history with Trump. During her 2018 campaign, the Democrat pledged to investigate and prosecute Trump over his New York business dealings.

Her office later secured a civil fraud judgment against Trump, his sons and his company. An appeals court upheld the fraud finding in 2025 but eliminated the enormous financial penalty after determining it was excessive, Courthouse News Service reported.

New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox accused James of turning her office into a “political hit squad,” according to the New York Post.

Even Melissa DeRosa, a former top aide to Democratic ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, condemned the alleged conduct, arguing that politicized prosecutions are “wrong when either side does it.”