Letitia James Ordered Prosecutor To Target Trump Allies
Left 25%
Center 0%
Right 75%
1 left · 0 center · 3 right
What happened
On Friday, Daniel Wiesenfeld, an assistant attorney general in New York Attorney General Letitia James’s Investor Protection Bureau, sent an office-wide email to more than 2,000 employees alleging that bureau chief Shamiso Maswoswe told him to find and pursue crimes by Donald Trump, Truth Social, Hewlett Packard, and other Trump-affiliated people and organizations, despite what he described as no credible reason to investigate them. The email was then deleted from office servers. James’s office put Wiesenfeld on paid administrative leave, called it a personnel matter, and rejected claims that the office targets people based on politics. On Tuesday, FBI and Justice Department attorneys interviewed Wiesenfeld for several hours; it is not public whether a formal investigation has been opened.
BLINDSPOT.
Only right-leaning outlets are covering this story
— the other side's media is silent.
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage is not reporting this story at all. Right-leaning coverage reports that FBI and Justice Department lawyers interviewed Daniel Wiesenfeld after he alleged that Letitia James's staff were directed to target President Trump and his associates. Wiesenfeld, an assistant attorney general now on paid leave, said a bureau chief told him to find crimes by Trump himself rather than identify crimes first. Right-leaning coverage also ties the claim to James's 2018 campaign to investigate Trump's business. A reader who relies on left-leaning coverage never learns that the interview occurred or that the office disputes the claim.
Right-leaning coverage leads with the federal interview rather than James's denial. The same account later calls the dispute a personnel matter. It also leaves unclear whether a formal investigation exists.
Have federal investigators opened a case into James's office, or only taken the whistleblower's statement?
Bottom line
Even the Washington Examiner, which reported that a James aide told federal lawyers he was told to go after "Trump himself," cannot say whether a formal investigation exists, and left-leaning coverage has not reported the interview.
The receipts — 6 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Federal investigators from the FBI and Justice Department interviewed Daniel Wiesenfeld, an assistant attorney general in Letitia James's office now on paid leave, after he alleged staff were directed to target Trump and his associates
- Wiesenfeld alleged that Shamiso Maswoswe, chief of the Investor Protection Bureau, instructed him to find crimes by Trump himself, Truth Social, and Hewlett Packard
- Wiesenfeld's office-wide email went to more than 2,000 employees and was then deleted from the attorney general's servers
- White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis called the allegations more proof of the weaponization of the justice system by James
- An appeals court in 2025 upheld James's civil fraud finding against Trump but eliminated a financial penalty of more than $360 million
- A federal judge's finding that a U.S. attorney in Virginia was unlawfully appointed led to dismissal of a mortgage fraud indictment against James
The Right View
The Washington Examiner, drawing on a source familiar with the interview and earlier reporting by the Times Union and New York Post, said federal investigators spoke with Wiesenfeld after his email alleged politically directed targeting of Trump and associates. Coverage recaps James’s 2018 campaign pledge to investigate Trump’s businesses, the later civil fraud case (an appeals court upheld a fraud finding but struck a penalty of more than $360 million), and the long mutual accusations of weaponized prosecution. It quotes a White House spokeswoman calling the claims further proof of lawfare and notes James’s office did not comment on the federal interview. The outlets frame the episode as an allegation that James’s office sought crimes to fit named political targets rather than investigating crimes first.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is moderately substantive: it involves a named prosecutor, an office-wide email whose text was obtained by the Times Union, named supervisors and alleged targets, and a confirmed multi-hour interview with FBI and DOJ lawyers. Established facts are that Wiesenfeld made those written claims, the email was removed, he was placed on leave, and federal investigators interviewed him. Still alleged and uncorroborated in public reporting is that Maswoswe or James actually ordered staff to invent or stretch cases against Trump allies, and that any such direction came from James herself rather than a subordinate. No charging documents, internal memos, or additional whistleblowers have been released. No left-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch next for whether DOJ or the FBI opens a formal inquiry, whether other employees corroborate the email, whether the full email or related records surface, and any detailed on-the-record response from James or Maswoswe.
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