NEW YORK, CMC – Caribbean-American Democratic Council member, Crystal Hudson, is appealing to the Caribbean community to stand with New York Attorney General Letitia “Tish” James amid President Donald J. Trump-directed indictment of her by the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Hudson, whose grandmother hailed from Jamaica, said last Thursday, the Trump administration indicted James “on baseless charges, a blatant act of political retaliation and an unconstitutional attempt to silence her amid her investigations” into his wrongdoing.
“This is not justice,” said Hudson, representative for the 35th Council District in Brooklyn, New York, in a message to constituents.
“It’s a dangerous escalation in the ongoing effort to weaponize the justice system against those who dare to hold the powerful accountable.
“A lifelong public servant, a proud Brooklynite, and a former representative of our own 35th Council District, Attorney General James has spent her career fighting for everyday New Yorkers, holding corporations, polluters, and predatory landlords accountable; protecting tenants, workers, and consumers; and defending reproductive rights, immigrants, and vulnerable communities,” she added.
She said that James stood up to Trump when others were afraid to, exposing the corruption, greed, and abuse of power that have defined his career.
“She made it clear that no one, not even a former president, is above the law. This indictment is retribution, plain and simple. It is an attempt to punish courage, to discourage public servants from doing their jobs, and to intimidate anyone who dares to speak truth to power.”
Hudson joins other Caribbean-American legislators in New York who have expressed profound outrage over James’s indictment.
The indictment, handed down on October 9, charges James with one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution in connection with her purchase of a property in Norfolk, Virginia.
The charges came two weeks after Trump sought the successful indictment of former FBI director James B. Comey.
“This is a vindictive and unjust prosecution, led by a compromised DOJ (US Department of Justice) and Donald Trump, a convicted felon, because Attorney General Tish (Letitia) James dared to expose Trump’s lies and hold him accountable for his fraudulent conduct,” said New York State Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the Haitian-American chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
Bichotte Hermelyn also urged Caribbean and other district leaders in Brooklyn to join the fight in supporting James.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that “Trump has been blatant about his goals to weaponize the federal government against the people brave enough to stand up to him.
“Now, he’s invented a reason to come after the highest-ranking Black woman in the state, where he was convicted of 34 felonies and civil fraud,” said Williams, who succeeded James as New York City Public Advocate.
Brooklyn Democratic District Leader Anthony Beckford, the son of Jamaican immigrants, is also “calling out Trump’s unlawful indictment of Attorney General Tish James.
“Now more than ever, we see a clear example of what tyranny looks like,” Beckford, district leader for the 43rd Assembly District in Brooklyn, told CMC.
“Our government and agencies are being weaponized for revenge. President Trump is using the Justice Department as his war machine against his political opponents – all because she prosecuted him for fraud, exposing him for the criminal that he is.”
Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, described James’s indictment as a “sham.
“Let me be clear: this accusation, like the man who ordered it, is a sham,” Clarke, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, told CMC.
“The American people know it. The US Attorney whom Donald Trump forced to resign for refusing to carry out this case knows it. Even the president’s hand-picked attorney leading this case knows it.”
The New York Attorney General said her office had conducted a two-year investigation into the Trump Organization “based on the facts and evidence, not politics.” “She said that the court has upheld the trial court’s finding that Donald Trump, his company, and his two sons are liable for fraud.
“I am a proud woman of faith, and I know that faith and fear cannot share the same space,” Ames said, adding, ” So, today, I am not fearful; I am fearless, and as my faith teaches me, no weapon formed against me shall prosper.
Lindsey Halligan, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said that, if convicted, James faces penalties including up to 30 years in prison per count, up to one million dollars fine on each count, and forfeiture.
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