Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James now faces two additional criminal referrals after a federal judge dismissed a previous criminal indictment accusing her of mortgage fraud.Like the previous allegation, the new referrals come from evidence gathered by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte.'They continue this improper revenge campaign instead of helping bring down the rising cost of living in this country.' Pulte said that James may have falsified information in documents submitted to the Allstate Insurance Company in Illinois and Universal Property Insurance in Florida. He cited information posted by Mike Davis, an attorney and activist.In a referral to U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros for the Northern District of Illinois, Pulte wrote that James "made representations" in insurance documents "that the house would be occupied by a single adult, with no children." He added, "Instead, according to the post, she knew the house was actually occupied by four people — three children and her niece."In the referral to U.S. Attorney Jason Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, Pulte accused James of falsely claiming her property would be unoccupied during five months of the year."The house was, in fact, occupied year-round by her niece," he wrote.James' attorney, Abbe Lowell, denied the allegations and blamed President Donald Trump."Trump and his political enablers keep abusing their power to pursue a vendetta against her by trying to rename, refile, and repeat baseless allegations," Lowell said."They continue this improper revenge campaign instead of helping bring down the rising cost of living in this country," Lowell added. "These desperate tactics will fail — just as every previous attempt has failed — and exposes an administration that has abandoned its responsibility to the American people in favor of petty political payback."RELATED: Letitia James gives unhinged rant after court hearing for bank fraud allegations: 'This is not about me!' The Trump administration has unsuccessfully tried to prosecute James multiple times for the previous mortgage fraud allegations.James headed up the Sept. 2022 civil lawsuit against Trump and the Trump Organization, accusing them of committing real estate fraud. She won and obtained a massive $464 million judgment, but it was struck down on appeal as "excessive."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

President Trump started a task force on corruption led by JD Vance — and it’s a move that Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck believes is telling when it comes to whom President Trump will be choosing as his successor in 2028.“I want you to think of everything through the eyes of 2028. And let’s look at the board the way a strategist would look at it,” Glenn begins.“Where’s Marco Rubio right now? Marco Rubio has more jobs than anybody I’ve ever met. He is, right now, exactly where you’d expect him to be: deep in foreign policy, standing shoulder to shoulder with Donald Trump and the administration in one of the most volatile geopolitical moments in my lifetime,” he explains.Glenn calls the current situation in Iran and Israel the “highest stakes” he’s “ever seen a president play at.”“High visibility, high risk, and whoever is with it is either a hero or a villain. And if it works, there’s stability. There’s lower oil prices. There’s a real peace dividend by '26 or '27. And Rubio will look like an amazing statesman. He becomes the natural heir, the man who helped steady the world,” he explains.However, if the war doesn’t end and costs continue to rise, Rubio’s position “is an absolute anchor.”“Where’s JD Vance right now on this issue?” Glenn asks.“I’ve heard rumors — he’s not really with the president on this one — but I haven’t seen any statements, and I haven’t seen the president say, ‘Yeah, he’s kind of weak on this,’” he says, though he notes that Vance is very big on rooting out fraud and corruption.“You have one potential successor tied to global outcomes that he can’t fully control, but he’s going to be tied with that. Another one being given a domestic mission that can be prosecuted daily, case by case, headline by headline, building a narrative that feeds directly into the next campaign,” Glenn says.“JD Vance is going to be the guy against Gavin Newsom, because he’s going to find the corruption in California. So that pits him against Newsom. By 2028, we’ll know what the Republican message will be. Not just growth, not just strength abroad, but this: Your government was looted. The biggest theft in American history happened,” he explains.“And we stopped it. That’s a pretty powerful argument against governors like Gavin Newsom or any other Democrat running on expanding programs and increasing spending and promising more systems, because the counter is going to be simple,” he continues.“If it goes well, you have the possibility of the two best candidates I’ve ever seen in my lifetime, because we will know on record what they are capable of doing. We will have seen them in action,” he says. “This is how you build a successor without naming one.”Want more from Glenn Beck?To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's efforts to cut his administration's budget while calling for massive new spending has hit a rather embarrassing snag.The socialist scion said he asked all government offices to come up with spending cuts that would add up to $1.7 billion savings for the annual budget of about $127 billion. He gave them a deadline of March 20. The sum of the savings he reported was about $200 million — which comes to about one-tenth of 1% of the entire budget.After the date came and went, the administration faced tough questions about how well it was meeting its targets. Almost comically, he posted a video Wednesday touting a few of the meager savings by pretending to find money under cushions and behind paintings in the mayor's mansion.The sum of the savings he reported was about $200 million — which comes to about one-tenth of 1% of the entire budget.The New York Post reported that city officials refused to release any information about the cuts but said to trust that they were hitting the targets.Mamdani's budget director, Sherif Soliman, was unable to answer many questions about the plan at a preliminary budget hearing with the city council on Wednesday. Instead he defended the controversial decision from City Hall to raid a rainy day fund as well as a retiree health benefit trust fund to balance the budget."We want to replenish reserves, and we want to grow reserves," he told council members. "This was out of necessity for what was an inherited significant budget challenge that stems from under-budgeting.""We will continue to update as we identify more savings," Soliman added.He also blamed former Mayor Eric Adams (D) for the massive $5.4 billion deficit that needed to be filled by law. Mamdani also passed the buck onto Adams in a separate press conference Wednesday."While we all predicted that it would be a difficult fiscal situation that we would find in January, there are very few who believe that it would be at the scale that we have found," the mayor said. "This is a fiscal crisis that has been entirely created within city government as opposed to one that can be blamed on external factors as we’ve seen in 2008."RELATED: Mamdani reverses controversial policy after 19 NYC residents die outdoors Mamdani has demanded that the state pass new taxes on the wealthy to help him fulfill his promise for new massive social welfare spending, but even other state Democrats said they would oppose the effort.The mayor then threatened to raise property taxes, but that effort was opposed by members of the city council and likely wouldn't pass.It has been 84 days since the socialist was sworn into office. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!