Hoochul supports James after he is indicted, citing the weaponization of the justice system

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul offered her support to Empire State Attorney General Letitia James when she was first indicted on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution, years after the New York governor celebrated legal challenges that arose in her home state and elsewhere against President Donald Trump.

“New Yorkers know @NewYorkStateAGJames for her integrity, independence, and relentless fight for justice. What we are witnessing today is nothing less than the weaponization of the Department of Justice to punish those who hold the powerful accountable,” Hochul posted on X after James’ indictment.

A Virginia grand jury indicted James on Thursday, months after federal housing finance director Bill Bolte said in a criminal referral to the Justice Department in April that James falsified mortgage records to get better loans. She faces charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.

Bolt alleged in his criminal referral that James purchased a home in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2023, but identified it as her primary residence on mortgage documents and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac forms. James is legally required to live in New York as a state elected official in that state.

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“No one is above the law. The charges alleged in this case represent intentional criminal acts and massive violations of the public trust,” US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan said when James was charged. He added: “The facts and law in this case are clear, and we will continue to follow them to ensure justice is achieved.”

Hochul, along with other prominent Democrats, referred to the indictment as the alleged “political weaponization” and political persecution of Trump’s opponent at the hands of the administration.

James and Trump have long exchanged barbs, with James vowing during his election campaign for attorney general in 2018 to pursue legal charges against Trump if he is elected. Her office ultimately filed nearly 100 legal challenges against Trump’s first administration and pledged to continue legal battles when he is re-elected in November 2024.

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Trump accused Democrats of waging legal warfare — understood as taking advantage of the courts for political gain — as a last-ditch effort to prevent him from running for the Oval Office again in the 2024 cycle and secure another federal election victory. For example, Trump was indicted and convicted in a New York case that accused him of falsifying business records, was indicted on racketeering charges in Georgia, and faced federal criminal cases alleging he mishandled sensitive government documents after his first presidency, and another alleging he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump has also faced civil lawsuits, including James accusing Trump and the Trump Organization of inflating asset values ​​in a lawsuit that found Trump and his companies liable.

Fox News Digital took a look at Hochul’s past comments about Trump and the legal issues that have plagued the president during his first administration during his interim terms as the 45th and 47th president, and found that the governor frequently celebrated issues that conservatives identified as “lawfare.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul’s office for comment on her previous statements on the legal cases against Trump promoting the narrative that the administration is using the justice system as a weapon against political enemies but did not immediately receive a response. Fox Digital specifically asked whether Hochul stood by her previous comments that “no one is above the law,” considering James’ indictment, but did not receive responses.

Trump is the first and only president to be impeached twice by the House, with Hochul paraphrasing during his first impeachment in 2019 — which he accused of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in connection with allegedly seeking foreign interference from Ukraine to bolster his own position. Re-elected Efforts in 2020 – that no one is above the law.

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“It’s really very simple – no one is above the law. Not now, not ever,” she wrote on Facebook. “Speaker Pelosi and Democrats in Congress hold the president accountable because they have a patriotic duty to uphold our Constitution, not play partisan politics.”

During Trump’s trial in James’ civil fraud case that accused Trump and the Trump Organization of financial fraud, Hochul commented that she had “complete confidence” that he would be held accountable, while also noting that he had “tantrums” in court.

“Former President Donald Trump testifies in an unprecedented civil trial brought by our Attorney General, Tish James,” she said in November 2023. “Far from telling the truth as he is required to do, he throws tantrums from the witness stand and verbally attacks judges and courtroom staff. His conduct has been a disgrace and I have every confidence that Donald Trump will be held accountable for his actions.”

A month later, the Democratic governor appeared to throw her support behind a lawsuit aimed at preventing Trump’s name from appearing on ballots for the 2024 election.

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A group of Colorado voters filed a lawsuit in 2022 arguing that Trump should be deemed ineligible to hold political office under the Civil War-era Sedition Clause. The lawsuit argued that Trump’s action on January 6, 2021 — when his supporters breached the U.S. Capitol — violated a provision in the 14th Amendment that bars U.S. officers and members of Congress or state legislatures who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution from holding political office.

“January 6 will live in infamy. Shame on us if we forget that,” Hochul said in December 2023, when the Colorado Supreme Court declared him ineligible to run for president. “Shame on us for what happened to this country when the Capitol that I used to proudly walk through as a congressman was literally under siege. People died, people were hurt, and if he doesn’t take responsibility for that, then the American people should hold him accountable. And that’s what started in Colorado.”

The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously in March 2024 to keep Trump on the ballot.

After Trump was convicted in James’s civil fraud case in 2023 and ordered to pay a $355 million fine, Hochul worked to allay other business leaders’ concerns that they could face similar prosecutions, suggesting that Trump and his “conduct” set him apart.

“I think this is a really unusual and extraordinary circumstance, and New Yorkers who are law-abiding and who are following the rules and who are business people have nothing to worry about, because they are very different from Donald Trump and his behavior,” Hochul said on “The Cats Roundtable” radio show in February 2024.

The Court of Appeal overturned the financial penalty in the case earlier in 2025.

Later that same year, Hochul celebrated that “no one is above the law” when Trump was found guilty in New York v. Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

“Today’s ruling reaffirms that no one is above the law,” Hochul said in a statement issued in May 2024. “In preparation for the ruling in this trial, I have directed my administration to coordinate closely with local and federal law enforcement and we continue to monitor the situation. We are committed to protecting the safety of all New Yorkers and the integrity of our judicial system.”

With the 2024 election looming, Hochul criticized Trump as a “fraud” and “womanizer” who lacks New York values, while pointing to New York’s case against Trump.

“Donald Trump was born a New Yorker, but he ended up a con man, a womanizer, and a criminal,” Hochul declared during her speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 2024. “He wasn’t raised with the New York values ​​that I know. Believe me, America, if you think you’re tired of Donald Trump, talk to a New Yorker. We’ve had to deal with them for 78 long years. Fraud, And tax evasion, and the fake university, and shady charities.”

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Trump won the Republican primary in the 2024 election cycle and swept the seven battleground states on Election Day, defeating then-Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed then-President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.

Hochul and James held a press conference the day after the election, vowing to fight Trump’s agenda while respecting the election results.

“I want to be very clear that while we respect the results of this election and will work with anyone who wants to be a partner in achieving our administration’s goals in our state, that does not mean we will accept a Washington agenda that strips the rights New Yorkers have long enjoyed,” Hochul said on November 6, 2024.

James said during the same press conference: “We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result.” “And my office has been preparing for months because we’ve been here before,” James said. “We have faced this challenge before, and used the rule of law to fight back. We are ready to fight back again because, as Attorney General of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law. I will not shirk that responsibility.”

Trump criticized the onslaught of lawsuits against him in recent years, denied any wrongdoing and described them as attempts by his political opponents as tools to prevent him from seeking and winning re-election.

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“They’re playing with the courts, you know, they’ve been playing with the courts for four years. They probably got me more votes because I got the most votes that any Republican has ever gotten, in fact, by a wide margin. And, you know, we had a great election, so I guess it didn’t work. But to this day, they’re playing with the courts and they’re friendly judges who like to try to make everybody happy. … It’s called war Law, it’s called “war of law.” Weaponizing justice, Trump said in January, just days before he was to be sworn in again.