The New York Editorial Board’s interview with New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat seeking reelection in 2026.
This interview originally appeared on the New York Editorial Board Substack on October 21, 2026 and is republished on Vital City with permission as a public service.
The New York Editorial Board spoke with New York Attorney General Letitia James on October 19, 2026. James, a Democrat first elected attorney general in 2018 after serving as New York City public advocate and a member of the City Council, is seeking a third term against Republican Saritha Komatireddy in the 2026 election.
Participating journalists: Juan Manuel Benítez, Nicole Gelinas, Alyssa Katz, Ben Max, Akash Mehta, Myles Miller, Harry Siegel, Ben Smith, Liena Žagare.
Full Transcript
Ben Smith
Thank you for coming in. I always say this at the top, but I think it’s important. Public officials don’t actually need to — and some don’t — talk to the press anymore, and it’s an important function of democracy. We appreciate what you’re doing.
Letitia James
I agree. I defend the First Amendment.
Liena Žagare
Your opponent is running heavily on public safety. Is it the attorney general’s job to fight violent crime?
Letitia James
Right. So we have two bureaus in our office: One bureau is a bureau that focuses on multistate, multicounty criminal enforcement. And that bureau is something that is appointed by the governor of the state of New York. She appoints us on an annual basis. I’ve asked her to extend it. And so it’s OCTF, the Organized Crime Task Force.
And then we have another bureau that focuses on financial crimes. That bureau is also multistate and multicounty, and we work with a lot of agencies, law enforcement agencies, the DA’s office, FBI, etc. And we’ve been focusing on — the most recent case is where we engaged in one of the biggest retail theft cases that was brought by the Office of the Attorney General, along with other law enforcement officers. And so primarily those are the two bureaus, unless we were appointed by the governor for whatever reason.
The vast majority of our work is on consumer, is on affirmative action, affirmative litigation. It’s on defending the state of New York, defending their laws. The criminal enforcement is maybe a quarter of the work that the Office of the Attorney General engages in.
And let me just say with respect to my opponent: If you look and if you analyze all of the individuals who are running for office all across this nation, it’s the same talking point. It’s all about public safety. It is the same talking point from Mr. Blakeman to my opponent to others across this country. It’s all about fear and division. That’s it.
Myles Miller
Can I just follow up on that?
Letitia James
Sure.
Myles Miller
Because her view is that the attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer and that it’s, correct me if I’m wrong —
Letitia James
Top cop.
Myles Miller
— above all the DAs [district attorneys]. What is your take on that? Is that what the office is?
Letitia James
No, not at all. We have 62 DAs and they’re all independent. And we work collaboratively with the district attorneys, and I dare not trespass on their authority. And their authority, for the most part, is street crime.
Nicole Gelinas
So if I may, also follow up on that: Your opponent has focused particularly on subway violence.
Letitia James
Yes.
Nicole Gelinas
And we had our seventh subway murder of the year this weekend, the shooting in the middle of the day right in midtown.
Letitia James
Correct.
Nicole Gelinas
Is your opponent wrong to be concerned about that? And is this just completely out of the purview of the attorney general?
Letitia James
So all of us should be concerned about crime on the subways. And obviously seven deaths is unacceptable. And what we should all focus on is doing an analysis of the crimes, who committed them, and try to prevent that from happening going forward. Some of the individuals that unfortunately have engaged in violent crime are individuals who are struggling with mental illness, and we need to focus on mental illness. But we should not be focusing on institutionalizing everyone who has a mental health problem. I do not want to go back to Willowbrook. What I want to do is be more compassionate and holistic and provide services for individuals who are struggling with mental illness, because the vast majority of individuals struggling with mental illness are not violent.
Ben Smith
You mentioned — I mean, it’s true, Republicans are running on crime everywhere.
Letitia James
Everywhere.
Ben Smith
Presumably because they think voters are pretty freaked out about crime, even though obviously shootings, murders are at historic lows. Why do you think citizens, voters, remain pretty alarmed about street crime and violent crime?
Letitia James
Fear works. And so this is nothing more than an attempt to engage in fearmongering and to separate us. And unfortunately my opponent knows nothing about the Office of the Attorney General and fails to recognize that public safety is an area for district attorneys, for a police commissioner. And we can play a complementary role. We can engage in investigations. We can work side by side with our district attorneys, as well as FBI — we have done that with respect to guns, guns along the pipeline coming up from the South with lax gun laws. We have worked with law enforcement in regards to deed theft, retail theft, and specifically also focusing on human trafficking. Again, working side by side with a lot of our law enforcement…And that’s what we can do going forward.
But I think my opponent is of the opinion that because we are often described as the top cop, that we supervise the district attorneys, we supervise all law enforcement officers, as opposed to all of them having separate and distinct responsibilities. And not to mention, we’ve got sheriffs and counties, thousands of them in upstate New York, which operate independently from the Office of the Attorney General.
Harry Siegel
Two quick follow-ups here.
Letitia James
Sure.
Harry Siegel
So the state just passed a new Local Cops, Local Crimes law.
Letitia James
Correct.
Harry Siegel
It appears to me that there’s some county executives and sheriffs who aren’t compliant. Are they allowed to operate independently there, or is that something of an exception to how you were laying that out before?
Letitia James
So we have a — as you know, there’s a lawsuit against those individuals who do not comply with the law. They are also suing us, challenging that statute. And so we are confident that we will prevail, that we will pass constitutional muster. And it’s also important that we get some sort of declaratory judgment, which would confirm that, in fact, they cannot disobey the law, and specifically they cannot enter into 287(g) agreements in violation of the law.
Harry Siegel
And you brought up —
Letitia James
There’s one sheriff that continues to violate the law, in Rensselaer County. He continues to violate the law and will continue, as he has indicated, to enter into 287(g) agreements.
Harry Siegel
You mentioned this national narrative. I remember Lee Zeldin running against Kathy Hochul, and a lot of his campaign was about firing Alvin Bragg. Your opponent has talked a lot about Bragg as well, and there seems to be a dynamic with this Republican public safety narrative that state officials should be able to sort of overrule or supersede local ones in the results of those elections. Do you want to talk about that at all, what this narrative is?
Letitia James
I don’t know what the narrative is. All I know is that —
Ben Max
It’s that Democrats are soft on crime and that Alvin Bragg’s soft on crime, you’re soft on crime, and the increases from 2019 are partly because of those policies.
Harry Siegel
And that statewide officials should be able to override those soft-on-crime Democrats, even if they’ve been elected.
Letitia James
So override us in terms of ignoring the law?
Harry Siegel
Well, I think your opponent is saying that there may be a space to limit the discretion of local district attorneys.
Letitia James
So she would have to go to the state legislature in order to get those exceptions, and right now she doesn’t have the authority or the power to make exceptions in the law. She has to follow the law. She needs to understand, as the attorney general of the state of New York, our responsibility is to defend the state laws and defend the actions of the legislature and/or the governor, unless there’s a conflict.
Juan Manuel Benítez
You made fighting President Donald Trump one of the signature, your signature issues —
Letitia James
No, no, no, no. I’m not fighting Donald Trump. What I’m doing is protecting the rights of New Yorkers. That’s what I do every day. I have no animus against Donald Trump. For me it’s about the rule of law and it’s about the Constitution. And whenever you issue an executive order which is in violation of the Spending Clause and also in violation of Congress’ role in terms of their statutory role, and if you hurt New Yorkers in an arbitrary and capricious fashion, then I have a responsibility to step up. If you cut Medicaid, if you cut funding for law enforcement, if you cut funding for National Institute of Health, which is doing amazing research on Parkinson’s and heart disease and cancer, if you cut funding to schools who rely upon mental health grants — and the list goes on and on and on — I have to stand up, because I took an oath to New Yorkers to protect them from harm.
Juan Manuel Benítez
But you ran on it. You ran on fighting and prosecuting President Donald Trump, Trump Organization, and you singled him out. Are you running on the same premise? And do you have any regrets?
Letitia James
No. No. So what you heard was politics, and politics stops at the door of the Office of the Attorney General. Each and every case that I engage in is based on facts and based on the law. Period, end of discussion.
You witnessed a heated campaign, but the politics stops at the door, because our cases must be factual in nature and must be grounded in the law, and that’s what I do each and every day. And again, I do not campaign against, I do not engage in some sort of retribution against Donald Trump. What I do every day is stand up for New Yorkers.
Myles Miller
Your friend, birthday twin, Mayor Mamdani —
Letitia James
Just ignore the last four numbers. It’s 10/18.
Myles Miller
He’s engaged in a sort of interesting dynamic with Donald Trump. I wonder what your assessment is of that, and if there’s anything that you can find common ground with the president. Because you say you don’t have any animus against him.
Letitia James
Sure. I would love to have the conversation with him in regards to building housing and supportive housing and housing for individuals who are medically, mentally ill and chemically addicted. They’re called MICA. MICA housing and MICA services. That’s what we need for individuals right now who are living in our subways and having a difficult time finding supportive housing. We need more MICA funding. And we need more beds.
Let me just tell you what happened within the last 48 hours. Two individuals, two young kids that I know, their parents reached out to me because they had episodes. They could not find them pediatric beds. It took the attorney general of the state of New York to call a hospital to get them beds. That should not be the case. We need more pediatric beds. We need more geriatric beds. We need more mental health facilities open each and every day that provide humane services to individuals who are struggling with mental illness.
Myles Miller
Would you call him?
Letitia James
And I would definitely — I would meet with the president of the United States if he would assist me in building housing, and particularly since we’re finally, finally building housing over Atlantic Yards. And for all those who criticized me on Atlantic Yards, who was right? What’s my name?
Ben Max
That’s for another conversation, I think.
Letitia James
No, I think we can have it. So they’re finally building the 5,000 units of housing over the Atlantic Yards, and I’ve been involved in that, and we need, obviously, funding. Actually, we also need more — I would like to do more development over Sunnyside Yards, Coney Island Yards, Atlantic Yards. We need more housing, and we need federal funding.
Ben Max
Hold on. He has very clearly tried to have you indicted.
Letitia James
Yeah.
Ben Max
And you don’t have any personal animus against him?
Letitia James
No, because one indictment is — has been — right now it’s the subject of litigation. The other two attempted indictments were dismissed by grand juries. So I don’t have any animus. I don’t hold animus. My faith teaches me not to hold animus against any individual. And to —
Ben Smith
You’re saying you’ve forgiven him?
Letitia James
I don’t know if it’s a question of forgiven. I just don’t have any animus against him. I’ve got a responsibility and a duty to protect New Yorkers and to do my job each and every day, and that’s what I do. And if I can get more funding from the federal government to build housing, I will do just that.
Ben Smith
You spent a bit of time with him in the legal process. What did you learn about him?
Letitia James
When we were in court?
Ben Smith
You deposed him, didn’t you?
Letitia James
We deposed him, and we did have a conversation when the judge called us both in the back of the courtroom. And so it was a polite conversation. We did not discuss housing. We just discussed whether or not we could come to some agreement with regards to the litigation, and the answer obviously was no.
Ben Smith
And you don’t regret bringing that case? It seems to have been both legally and politically sort of unsuccessful.
Letitia James
No, it was not unsuccessful, because the judgment obviously is still in place. The disgorgement was dismissed. And so that case is on appeal, and hopefully the disgorgement will return.
Ben Max
What do you make of — on the political side, though — what do you make of what seems like a pretty clear correlation that when you and DA Bragg brought your cases, in public opinion, it actually seemed to rally support behind him? Do you have any regrets about not pushing back harder on that? I mean, there does seem to be a very direct relationship.
Letitia James
So — but your question suggested there was some political nature to it.
Ben Max
Not at all. No, I’m not suggesting that at all. I’m saying people — because of whatever narratives there were around it, his ability to use the bully pulpit, and seemingly, though, both of you deciding to do less public talking and say, “Oh, let the cases play out,” whatever the factors were — it does seem that those cases, however successful they were in the court of law, in public opinion actually rallied support behind him.
Letitia James
So, again, I can’t sit back and engage in regret or what would have happened. And again, there was a congressional hearing. There were questions asked. The questions posed a number of questions with regards to New York, whether or not he had overvaluated his real estate and whether or not he had engaged in some fraudulent behavior. I have a duty and responsibility when those questions are asked and when evidence is uncovered to investigate. And I cannot be concerned about the fallout, period.
Nicole Gelinas
In terms of overvaluing his real estate, did any victim come forward in this case? Do you see this as a systemic problem? Do you only look at Trump, or did you look at the entire industry, and particularly with valuations falling after the pandemic? Is this something that other actors in the real estate industry are doing, overvaluing their real estate to maintain their existing loans, if not getting loans?
Letitia James
So again, this was the subject of a congressional hearing, and that hearing focused on President Trump. And so my focus was on one individual based on questions that were asked and answers that were given with respect to him overvaluating his property. And as a result of that, in the Office of the Attorney General, because it specifically happened in New York, I have responsibility and a duty to engage in an investigation, and that’s exactly what we did. To the question that you asked is whether or not there was any victim, the victim is all of us, New Yorkers as a whole.
Nicole Gelinas
Speaking of property and valuations, I’m glad you brought up Atlantic Yards. I actually have two questions about that. So you know Norman Oder’s long-running blog —
Letitia James
Yes, I know Norman well.
Nicole Gelinas
He has reported that the new developers have lobbied you. Why would they lobby the attorney general? What is the AG’s role in this project?
Letitia James
So they lobbied me because obviously I was involved in Atlantic Yards, and they just wanted to know what the community wanted. And because I still live in the community and because I know the Atlantic Yards project like the back of my hand, I took time to have a discussion with them. And of course the number one issue is housing, housing and housing, and particularly affordable housing. And if we can get more subsidies from the federal government, I’ll accept it to build more supportive housing, affordable housing and mixed-income housing.
Alyssa Katz
And why do you specifically support that project there? It would have involved building a very expensive platform. I know there’s a lot of community opposition. Still, I think a lot of questions that remain around the affordability. It’s been years, and we’ve seen housing, but not affordable housing.
Letitia James
Exactly.
Alyssa Katz
So why are you defending the project now, or advocating for it?
Letitia James
So I’m advocating for it. I don’t know, at the end of the day, how much affordable housing for residents who live in and around Atlantic Yards. And so I’m keeping my eye on that project to ensure that residents, particularly residents who have been displaced and residents who are crying out for affordable housing, seniors, and a significant number of families with children.
Alyssa Katz
But they were displaced years ago, so I mean, the neighborhood is completely changed, as a result in part of Atlantic Yards. So how do you have any kind of restitution of that?
Letitia James
I’m still in the neighborhood. I still attend meetings in the neighborhood. I still hear from a lot of people who remain in the neighborhood about the need for affordable housing. That’s all that I hear at every event.
Nicole Gelinas
What about the penalties? The original iteration had penalties if the developer — two developers now, two and a half — did not build this affordable housing as was agreed.
Letitia James
They went bankrupt.
Nicole Gelinas
Can the AG enforce those penalties against the bankrupt entity?
Letitia James
No. At this point in time, we’re not going to be focusing on trying to recoup those debts.
Nicole Gelinas
And why not?
Letitia James
Because they’re bankrupt, and my understanding is that they don’t have the resources to pay. I want to focus on building affordable housing. Again, if the president of the United States wants to provide us with resources, we welcome them.
Ben Max
Let me connect something you talked a little bit about to a power of your office. So you talked about more mental health beds and mental health crises and needing to call for hospital beds. That ties in at least a little bit with this Office of Special Investigation that you were tasked with in 2021.
Letitia James
OSI?
Ben Max
OSI, yes, in 2021. To have oversight where a police officer anywhere in the state, or a peace officer, kills an individual, and to investigate it and decide whether you want to pursue charges. That was passed, as you well know, in sort of the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, protests about police accountability, etc.
How do you view how that’s played out? I think there’s people here and there that I hear from, see writing, etc., that seem disappointed that it hasn’t resulted in your office bringing more charges against police officers who kill unarmed individuals, especially in mental health episodes. Can you speak a little bit about that?
Letitia James
Sure. We have brought to trial two cases. And the others, 40-some-odd cases, we’ve issued reports. Part of it has to do with the law. And as you mentioned, I think it was two sessions ago and last session, we introduced legislation to amend the law.
I’m not in the business of prosecuting law enforcement officers just for the sake of prosecution. Again, it has to be based on the facts and the law. And as you know, law enforcement officers can use force when they subjectively believe that their lives are in danger. And in most of the cases, and particularly cases involving those who are struggling with mental illness, it’s usually a parent who calls. And as I watch all the body-worn cameras, it’s usually an individual who’s struggling with mental illness who usually has a weapon in their hand.
Ben Max
Usually a knife or a scissor, not a gun.
Letitia James
In some cases there have been guns. And so officers feel threatened. And right now, the only weapon that they have on them, the Tasers — Tasers do not work. They just don’t work. So they use their gun. And I want to look at nonlethal uses of force and to see if there’s any other nonlethal uses of force that are out there. One of the things that we were examining was the BolaWrap, where they wrap you like Spider-Man, but there were a lot of false wraps, and so that didn’t work. So I’m continuing to do research to see what other options are available for law enforcement officers, and also see if the legislature would possibly change the law to look at whether or not the entire circumstance concerning an interaction with law enforcement officers should be considered.
Ben Max
The thing you didn’t mention there — again, this is different, this is sort of policy that the mayor is very focused on, has been in talks for a long time — I wonder, from your perspective investigating all those cases, should there be more social workers on the front lines? How do you think about that, as having done all this?
Letitia James
Well, yeah, sure. As part of our approach to mental illness, we should have more social workers. When they closed the mental health facilities back when — Andrew — not Andrew — when his father was governor, they closed all these mental health facilities. Individuals were released, but no services came behind. If you go to criminal court and if you see individuals who are struggling with mental illness, oftentimes judges ask the prosecutor and the defense attorney, “What services are available? Can I refer them to this place, that place, that place?” There’s long lines. And so there’s…
Ben Max
In those moments of crisis, should there be a social worker leading the way? Or?
Letitia James
In conjunction or in partnership with law enforcement officers. But we need, obviously, more services for individuals who are struggling with mental illness. They only stay in the hospitals for — sometimes it’s 72 hours. Oftentimes, it’s a little bit longer than that. But as I witnessed just the other day, two individuals, two young people who needed some psychiatric assistance, they had to stay in the emergency room for 24 hours.
Alyssa Katz
You’re talking about mental health services, supportive housing services, homeless shelters. I mean, all of this — these organizations that do provide it are paid a lot of money by the state, and with state and federal subsidies to provide it.
Letitia James
But not enough.
Alyssa Katz
But they’re under the oversight of your Charities Bureau, many of them.
Letitia James
Yes.
Alyssa Katz
They’re nonprofit organizations. And what we’ve seen for a long time now, including on — I edit investigations — is that news media will come out with an article…
Letitia James
About the salary.
Alyssa Katz
Well, about salaries, but also about corruption, fraud, waste. And then very often we’ll see local prosecutors, federal prosecutors act. I haven’t in many cases seen your office in the mix. Including an investigation — at one point, I even called your press office or emailed them and said, “Hey, we just published this. You should look into it.” Never heard back.
And so I want to know, why is that happening that way, right? Homeless services organizations shut down and so on. Where has your office been? And what else should you be doing about that?
Letitia James
So we have focused on waste, fraud and abuse. In fact, within the last few months, we have prosecuted individuals for Medicaid fraud: a number of nursing homes, a pharmacy, an eye care worker, eye care operation, with the comptroller of the state of New York. We have engaged in a number of investigations with respect to waste, fraud and abuse. Our Charities [Bureau] has jurisdiction over not-for-profits, but when it comes to Medicaid fraud, we have been in the forefront.
In fact, one of the issues that I wanted to focus on was the operators and the managers of nursing homes, because too many loved ones reached out to me because their parents were in nursing homes where they had sepsis, where they had gangrene, where they had bedsores. And we investigated a number of nursing homes. And as a result of that, as opposed to my opponent, who wants to just focus on low-level staff, we focused on the operations of nursing homes. And then after our investigations of a number of nursing homes, I wanted to go further. I went to the legislature and got two bills passed. And the bills that we were able to get passed was, one, all profits — some profits, most of the profits — should be reinvested back into the nursing home, as opposed to the pockets of the operator. And two, that they should increase staffing ratios at nursing homes. Both of those bills were passed. They were challenged. We defended it, and they’re right now the law of the land.
Alyssa Katz
What about homeless services, for example? When I was at the Daily News, I worked with my colleague James Fanelli. We investigated Children’s Community Services, and that was right around the time that you were taking office. We ended up seeing local authorities in New York City taking action at some point following — I think it was local law enforcement action. Like, where was — I know, fine, you’re just getting into office — but where’s the Charities Bureau on these cases? I investigated that just by looking at their filings with your office, as a journalist. So what’s happening?
Letitia James
So the examination that you were requesting was looking to determine whether or not they were engaged in a criminal action?
Alyssa Katz
This was actually a different investigation entirely, where I was…But yes, in any of these cases, my experience historically is the Charities Bureau, when a journalist did an investigation, would jump into action. I would hear from them. They would be very engaged. I haven’t seen that in recent years. I just wanted to know sort of how you’re staffing that bureau and what your orientation is around proactive —
Letitia James
So the Charities Bureau has been very, very active, and again, working with Medicaid fraud, we’ve been working on a number of cases. I can’t really speak to the case that you mentioned. And if there’s other cases, we can cite to you, I can send you a whole book about the number of cases that we’ve been involved in involving not-for-profits in the state of New York. We have been primarily focused right now, when it comes to charities, on whether or not any charity in the state of New York is engaging in political action, and whether or not charities have failed to file their CHARs, their charity registration. And that’s what we are looking at right now.
With regards to waste, fraud and abuse, our Medicaid unit has been focusing on waste, fraud and abuse on a wide range of cases that we report on a daily basis. And so I’m really proud of the work that the Charities Bureau has done, as well as the Medicaid Fraud Unit.
And lastly, let me just say that the federal government has attempted to decertify the Medicaid Fraud Unit. And part of it is, I believe, more weaponization. Why? Because last year we were the best Medicaid fraud unit, and now all of a sudden we are the worst Medicaid fraud unit. And so for me it’s just another example of weaponization. We’re going to continue to do the work of New York state, again focusing on waste, fraud and abuse, not only in nursing homes, but in adult day care centers. Tomorrow the FBI and the federal government will be announcing some investigation into adult day care centers. We specifically focused on one. They’re looking at nine others, and we’ve been working with them as well with regards to the waste, fraud and abuse at these adult day care centers all throughout the city of New York.
Nicole Gelinas
You mentioned sending a mental health-trained clinician out with the police to these acute cases. The mayor ran on creating a Department of Community Safety to do just that. He hasn’t done it. He hasn’t asked the Council to create a new department. He created an office that is not operational. And we’ve seen several fatal police shootings of armed, apparently mentally ill individuals, including a man on the Brooklyn Bridge, several people in homes and on the street. Has the mayor been too slow to make good on this campaign promise?
Letitia James
I really can’t speak to that. I can only speak to the work that we’re doing in the Office of the Attorney General. We sued Presby because they did not have psychiatric beds. We also sued Emblem because their directory of mental health services basically was inadequate. When we called all of the numbers in their directory, none of the numbers worked, and services were not available. So we are focusing obviously on mental health.
We will go to the legislature again and demonstrate to the legislature what we need is additional services, and we need to staff up organizations that you just described to address this crisis of individuals who are living on our streets, living on our streets and in our subways, who desperately need services. And we need to take a more humane approach to it, as opposed to institutionalizing them. I do not want to go back. I want to go forward. And again, I can only do it in a manner that experts have informed me is the right way to handle it.
Ben Smith
Maybe a slightly broader version of this question. Do you agree with, I guess, AOC and Chi Ossé that “Woke 1 was crazy?”
Letitia James
I can’t comment on their… that remark. I don’t know where you —
Myles Miller
Do you know what woke 1 is?
Letitia James
I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Ben Smith
Have you not heard this before? Sorry, you’re obviously not spending enough time on Twitter.
Letitia James
No, I don’t.
Ben Smith
But I guess the thing that they have both said, when asked about some of the policy statements from that kind of 2020 to 2022 period, is, I think, people got a little ideologically out of hand. “We shouldn’t be held to the things we said during that period.”
Myles Miller
Like defund the police, right?
Ben Smith
Defund the police being the obvious one. I’m curious, maybe just more broadly, if you sort of reflect on —
Letitia James
I don’t have a comment on it. I don’t have a comment on it. I am focused, again, on addressing…I’ve got enough on my plate.
Ben Smith
Let me switch to something concrete.
Letitia James
Thank you.
Ben Smith
I tried. There was an ICE shooting a week before last now, and there’s been some debate among Democrats particularly about how the New York Police Department handled it. How do you think [NYPD Commissioner] Jessica Tisch handled it?
Letitia James
So I support Jessica Tisch. I supported her when she was being considered, when the Mamdani administration came on. I was very vocal in my support for Jessica Tisch, and she is the happy warrior. And I look forward to continuing to work with her on a wide range of issues. As you know, Jessica Tisch and I go way back, to the time where we worked with Police Commissioner Kelly, I believe it was, on ShotSpotter, and she was instrumental in getting that done in the city of New York.
I worked with her…I was the first one to call for body-worn cameras for police officers, and it was joined with Ms. Tisch, at the time she was chair of Sanitation, Commissioner Kelly at that time. And so I just want to, again, focus again on crime in the subways. I want to focus on mental illness. I want to continue to focus on affordability, which is a major issue here in the state of New York, where individuals are struggling each and every day.
Juan Manuel Benítez
What’s your position on ICE agents in the streets of New York?
Letitia James
So, listen, ICE needs to be reformed, period. And immigration is a civil matter, not a criminal matter. And there were ways to basically handle the detention of this young gentleman. And it is cruel and inhuman to have someone with a bullet in their neck remain at a detention center. He should get medical care as soon as possible.
They did not know that the child was in the car, but had they engaged in this takedown in ways that would have assured that no other individual would be put in harm’s way — that’s the way that they should have approached the situation. It was a crowded street. School had just been let out. I stood with the mayor that evening, obviously, to be critical of their operations and oppose their operations.
Nicole Gelinas
Wouldn’t it be safer if the state and counties would work with ICE and alert ICE when someone is leaving detention? I mean, this individual had been arrested several times.
Letitia James
But he was not in detention at that time.
Nicole Gelinas
Right, but he was before.
Letitia James
He was before, and on that specific night — if we can limit it just to that specific night — the question is, and this is a factual question, whether or not he was a threat to law enforcement officers, whether or not he even knew that that was a law enforcement officer, because they had a construction vest on and a long-arm gun. I don’t know whether or not they had identification. Most of the time — I shouldn’t say most of the time — ICE does not identify themselves. So the way that they handled it, I believe, was inconsistent with how law enforcement officers in the state of New York would have handled the arrest or detention of an individual.
Juan Manuel Benítez
But should there be more cooperation between ICE enforcement and law enforcement?
Letitia James
Only for individuals where they have an outstanding warrant, or whether or not they have been convicted of a violent crime and they’re about to be released. Right now we currently have cooperation.
Juan Manuel Benítez
Why only in those cases?
Letitia James
Because immigration is a civil matter and not a criminal matter. And that’s why law enforcement officers should be focused on crime and not immigration, and that’s why the law was passed in the state of New York.
Harry Siegel
Also, reading the Times article about this, right? He pled down a violent charge to a nonviolent thing previously. He’s got an upcoming trial on reasonably significant drug charges, but also wouldn’t be —
Letitia James
A nonviolent…?
Harry Siegel
So implicitly, I think the Trump administration argument is this is a bad guy, and we would love to have more help in getting into custody that doesn’t involve doing a street arrest with masks and all that. Is there anything to that, or anything we need to reform, or you just don’t agree in this instance?
Letitia James
I just don’t agree in this particular instance. I think, again, there is cooperation with ICE. So this narrative that we don’t cooperate with ICE is just not true. We do not cooperate with ICE when it comes to immigration, because immigration is a civil matter and not a criminal matter. And that has been my position all along.
And in order to detain individuals, it’s really critically important that you not put other individuals, New Yorkers, in harm’s way, in particular children. And if individuals who are in detention require medical assistance, they should get medical assistance. They should not have to walk around with a bullet in their neck.
Ben Max
Should the NYPD be clearing the way for ICE? That was part of the original question. I think that people are upset with the commissioner about how the NYPD is operating. And I think some other people are questioning, well, if the NYPD doesn’t clear the way, what’s going to happen then? So what’s your view of that?
Letitia James
I think we obviously need to know more of the facts about what happened, which is why I can have full confidence in the district attorney, Darcel Clark. Until such time as we know all of the facts on the ground, I cannot speak to what reforms are necessary. All I know is that the way that it happened last week, or two weeks ago, was not consistent with how New York City police operate, as well as the state of New York.
Akash Mehta
Amid national outrage over the Cornell gang rape case, you wrote, “To all survivors, you’re not alone. We stand with you.” And you vowed to investigate the allegation fully and fairly. You are also defending the state against 1,600 lawsuits filed by women under the Adult Survivors Act alleging sexual abuse by New York state prison employees. Your office has planned to request to dismiss up to 500 of those lawsuits before they make it through discovery, based on technicalities like incarcerated women not remembering the precise date of an assault.
Letitia James
The specificity of a complaint.
Akash Mehta
Yeah. I have a few questions about this. First, how do you balance your responsibility to defend the state, your legal responsibility, with your commitment to stand by survivors?
Letitia James
So we are engaging in a full and thorough investigation, and it will be fair. It will be based on the facts, and it will be based on the law. And it —
Akash Mehta
I’m sorry, I mean in the Adult Survivors Act cases.
Letitia James
Oh, in the Adult Survivors Act cases. Again, there’s a statute in place and procedure in place which indicates that in order to plead, you have to plead with specificity. And a number of these cases that will be dismissed, unfortunately, are not specific enough, and that’s why they have been dismissed.
Akash Mehta
So should survivors who make minor errors about the dates of an assault that happened in prison —
Letitia James
I don’t know if it’s just minor errors.
Akash Mehta
Or who can’t remember the names, for instance, of their alleged abusers. Should those cases be dismissed before they get through discovery?
Letitia James
Again, I think it’s a little bit more than just forgetting the names and the minor errors. In most of the cases that we’ve dismissed, there is no basis in fact, and there’s a lot of omissions.
Akash Mehta
How would you know if there’s no basis in fact before a case makes it through discovery?
Letitia James
We base it upon what they plead in their complaint, and unfortunately a lot of the complaints have been missing in terms of factually — the facts unfortunately have been missing, and there’s just not enough concrete evidence to move the case forward.
Ben Max
You used the word “unfortunately” there twice, so does that mean you sort of wish that they could remember more, or that it seemed to have more validity?
Letitia James
No. No, no, no. If the complaint was substantive and if the complaint pled more facts, then we could move forward. But in a number of these cases, there’s just too much — most of the evidence or most of the facts are just not there. And so we have to dismiss those cases.
Akash Mehta
How personally involved are you in the litigation strategy around these 1,600 cases? Are you signing off, for instance, on the strategy to request these dismissals?
Letitia James
So they’ve submitted most of the complaints to me. They’ve done a spreadsheet. And they’ve indicated what information is contained in the complaint. And oftentimes, particularly given those 500 cases, they’re missing names, identification, dates, facts, et cetera. And that’s why they’ve had to be dismissed. They cannot withstand the requirement for pleading a case based on information and belief.
Akash Mehta
In one of these cases, you moved to dismiss a case in part because your office claimed that the man who is this prison cook, who’s alleged to have raped a woman every week in a walk-in refrigerator over the course of a year — your office claimed, based on DOCCS, based on the prison agency’s records, that this person had never worked in the prison system. My news organization, New York Focus, looked through your own records, found this man, and you withdrew this motion to dismiss the case. Did that make you reconsider some of the 500 other cases?
Letitia James
So no. We reviewed that case, and so it is not — I’ve not changed my position. If the complaint lacks facts and evidence and cannot withstand scrutiny, these cases have to be dismissed.
Akash Mehta
But you were relying in this case on a prison employee’s statement about what their records showed. That statement was shown to be false. This man did, in fact, work for the prison system in this case’s proceeding. Does that make you — are you reviewing, are you taking more efforts to review DOCCS’s claims about their own records?
Letitia James
Sure. So Department of Corrections — one of the issues with the Department of Corrections is that they do not keep, maintain records in a manner that we would have preferred. And so as a result of Department of Corrections failing to provide certain documentation, we will ensure that going forward those complaints are reviewed and that we check with and require and demand of Department of Corrections that they review — they do a complete records check on specific cases.
Akash Mehta
Did your office take any — I mean, to me, this was very dramatic. You were trying to toss out a case based on a claim that someone never worked for the prison agency. He did, in fact, work for the prison agency. And as a result, that case is going on. Did that give your office any — did you —
Letitia James
So there was pause.
Akash Mehta
Did that lead to internal discussion?
Letitia James
There was pause and there was internal discussion. And again, not only internal discussions, but discussions with the Department of Corrections, who maintains these records. And in most of those instances, Department of Corrections has indicated that they do not have the records to substantiate the claim. And so we will continue to require of the Department of Corrections to produce records.
In this particular case, you uncovered something that Department of Corrections had indicated they did not have, and that was not the case at all. And so going forward, again, given those 500 cases that we have argued should be dismissed, we will make sure that the Department of Corrections does a thorough and comprehensive check of their records.
Juan Manuel Benítez
But are you worried that a news organization is able to find information that your office couldn’t?
Letitia James
Well, again, it was working with the Department of Corrections. The Department of Corrections is the guardian of their records, and so you found those records. They were, I believe, if I’m not mistaken, within the custody of the Department of Corrections, not in our office. Correct?
Akash Mehta
That is correct. One or two more questions on this. The Senate passed a bill to — so you are moving to dismiss these 500 cases —
Letitia James
And the Senate has passed a bill.
Akash Mehta
Under filing requirements of the Court of Claims, where civil cases against the government are heard, those filing requirements are stricter than requirements when you’re suing a private entity. The Senate has passed a bill to relax those requirements such that you don’t have to have more information to sue the government than to sue a private entity. Does that make sense to you? Do you support the Senate — this bill? Or do you think that it should be harder to sue the government for sexual abuse?
Letitia James
I’m looking forward to working with the legislature next year to address some of the deficiencies. And I would support the Senate bill. We’re reviewing it. And hopefully it’ll pass in the Assembly as well.
Akash Mehta
Wait, you support the Senate bill that would essentially remove the legal basis to dismiss these cases?
Letitia James
I support, again, a procedure that will make it easier for victims to file cases against the state of New York. But, again, I don’t know whether or not that will be the final piece of legislation that will pass, because the Assembly has not passed it as of yet.
Akash Mehta
OK, yeah, that’s really interesting to me, that you support legislation to remove the legal basis for a set of dismissal motions that your office is making. When you litigate these cases — and again, thinking about your words on the Cornell case and your commitment in other cases, like with Andrew Cuomo, to stand with survivors — how do you think about your approach to defending the state against sexual abuse cases? Do you treat them as any other case, where you defend them as aggressively as you can and use every legal tactic at your disposal? Or are there legal avenues that you have available to you that you choose in some cases not to pursue, given the nature of the cases?
Letitia James
So there’s only one standard in the Office of the Attorney General, and that is to review the case and to review the facts. You can’t have separate standards with respect to how you approach your pleadings and your litigation going forward. One standard, one standard for all, and that is to ensure that justice is provided and to ensure that the law and the facts are respected and that every case going forward is subjected to the same review by the attorneys in the office, as well as myself.
Ben Smith
Can I ask a Cornell question? You referred to Jane Doe in the Cornell case as a survivor. How can the defendants in that case believe that you are treating them with a presumption of innocence?
Letitia James
Because the tweet is not evidence. And the tweet is not factual. And so what you read was empathy. And that’s what it demonstrates. And the politics stops at the door. And so this case will be based, again, on the evidence. And there’s a team of attorneys who will be working on the Cornell case as we go forward. And it will be done in a fair manner.
Alyssa Katz
So also, speaking of defending the state in a case, education reformers are currently suing the state around the law that allows religious schools to operate. They are arguing it’s in violation of the constitutional right to a sound basic education, so including yeshivas, Catholic schools, and so on.
Do you agree that this — I mean, I know you’re — you obviously disagree, you’re litigating the case — but, to rephrase the question, why have you taken on this case? I know there are cases in which you do not defend the state on certain cases. In this case, you’re going ahead and representing the state.
Letitia James
So the only case — the cases that we have not defended the state is when there’s a conflict within the office. My focus with regards to education is the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and to ensure that more resources are provided to public schools in the state of New York.
Alyssa Katz
Right, so what about the religious schools? Should they have a different standard, which is what the plaintiffs are arguing?
Letitia James
Right, so they’re arguing there’s a different standard. The state legislature and the governor of the state of New York have come to a different standard, and it’s my responsibility and duty to defend the state of New York.
Alyssa Katz
But do you think, just as a sort of matter of principle, that it’s OK to have different —
Letitia James
So you’re asking me my personal views, and at the end of the day, my job is to defend the state of New York.
Ben Max
There is one instance where — correct me if I’m wrong — you declined to defend the state, maybe there’s others that I don’t know about, where it was more of your policy disagreement with the governor, about the right to shelter. The governor was claiming the right to shelter only applied to New York City. You seemed to have a different opinion.
Letitia James
Yeah, so we did not defend the state on that. And part of it is because I was very much involved in the right to shelter when I was a City Council member and the public advocate. And at the time, my first deputy worked for Legal Aid and was instrumental in that litigation to create the right to shelter.
Ben Max
So it was both sort of policy disagreement and some of that background?
Letitia James
And conflict.
Harry Siegel
Two questions. Given your own experience with the Trump Justice Department — two dismissed, one ongoing — what are your thoughts on the case it’s trying to build right now against [Congresswoman] Ilhan Omar?
Letitia James
So it’s another example of the weaponization of the Department of Justice. And there was — there is, or there should have been — a policy within the DOJ not to engage in any actions against elected officials 16 days out, 15 days out [of Election Day]. They ignore that. Most of the professionals in the Department of Justice have left the office. We have hired quite a few. The resumes are still coming in. And the Department of Justice, unfortunately, and the Civil Rights Bureau of the Office of the Attorney General — it’s just not what it used to be. There were stellar bureaus, and right now they’re nothing more than extensions of the president.
Harry Siegel
Just one other question here. We have this election coming up. Of course you’re involved in it, but also watching the integrity of New York’s elections and with concern about the Trump administration. And former Eric Adams Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry has been appointed the federal government cyber defense director for the region covering New York and New Jersey, and he’s also now the designated lead election security advisor for the region. Do you have any thoughts or concerns about that?
Letitia James
No, I have no thoughts. All I can tell you is that, working with other Democratic attorneys general, we’ve had several meetings, and we are prepared to respond to any threats, any acts of suppression, any illegal conduct in and around polling sites. We have engaged in tabletop exercises. We’ve had forums in Michigan, California, et cetera. We are ready and prepared to respond to any illegal activity.
In addition to that, we have a 1-800 number in the Office of the Attorney General where individuals can contact the office if in fact they are harassed or if there are any threats at polling sites. We also have a number of attorneys and non-attorneys who are prepared to respond to incidents at polling sites, who will be monitors at polling sites in the state of New York.
And we’ve also worked with — we’ve notified houses of faith how to respond. We’ve notified elected officials. We’ve notified sheriffs. We’ve been in conversations with Governor Hochul’s office. We are all in coordination, ensuring that the right to vote is protected and sacred.
Ben Max
We asked your opponent to give you credit for something. And she named your work on price surveillance as something she thought was going in the right direction.
Is there anything in this campaign she’s right about? Is there anything she’s pointed out that your office is not doing enough of? I mean, I heard you earlier give a very full-throated defense on Medicaid fraud, which is one of her biggest talking points, and I was actually going to ask you about that, some of her numbers. But is there anything she’s right about in this campaign?
Letitia James
So on Medicaid fraud, she’s not right because —
Ben Max
But is there anything she’s right about?
Letitia James
Oh. She’s right about her immigrant story, her parents’ immigrant story —
Ben Max
Is there anything she’s right about you and your office and your record, anything she’s pointed out in this campaign that you’ve said, “You know what, we could probably do better”?
Letitia James
Primarily, her focus has been on fear. And my position is that she does not know how the Office of the Attorney General functions. And she also doesn’t understand that in order to create a new bureau, you would have to go to the legislature and the governor to fund it and to create it.
She has not mentioned or focused on deed theft. She’s not focused on affordability. She’s not focused on housing. She’s not focused on nursing homes. It’s Republican talking points. And even though she said she only met Donald Trump for 10 minutes, which I —
Akash Mehta
Thirty seconds.
Letitia James
I disagree with the 30 seconds. I think it was enough time for him to endorse her, enough time for him to put her name on social media, and enough time for him to spell it right.
Nicole Gelinas
If Mr. Blakeman were to win the election, how would you perform your job of defending the state? Presumably he would take cases or bring initiatives that you would disagree with, but that you wouldn’t have a direct conflict with, like you did in the right-to-shelter case.
Letitia James
I don’t think he has a relationship with the speaker of the Assembly and/or the majority leader [of the Senate]. And they control the budget.
Nicole Gelinas
But if he were to launch legal action against, say… in order to work with ICE or something?
Letitia James
He would have to pass the state legislature. And again, he doesn’t have a relationship with the speaker or the state legislature. I do. I worked in the legislature for 10 years. I know the entire staff. I know the operations, which is why we’ve been very successful in getting bills passed.
Juan Manuel Benítez
For the average New Yorker to understand, why should the average New Yorker give you four more years in this office?
Letitia James
Oh, because right now New Yorkers are clamoring for a fighter and checks and balances on the excesses and the overreach of the federal government. And it’s been Democratic attorneys general, led by Letitia James, who organized them, who have been most effective in serving as a check and balance on this administration. A check and balance on the corruption, a check and balance on immigration enforcement, a check and balance on Congress’ role, or their failure to respond to the president of the United States. And again, we have been winning almost 85% of our cases, and we’ll continue to do just that. And I will continue to work with Democratic attorneys general, and hopefully we can pick up three more, in Florida, in Kansas and in Georgia.
Juan Manuel Benítez
So once again, fighting Donald Trump, right?
Letitia James
What did you say?
Juan Manuel Benítez
Once again, fighting Donald Trump?
Letitia James
No, defending the state of New York.
Akash Mehta
One area in which Republican attorneys general seem to me to be more aggressive, by and large, is with respect to AI companies.
Letitia James
Where did you get that from?
Akash Mehta
So Republican attorneys general in Florida, Iowa, Arkansas and Idaho have asked courts to halt the development of frontier AI systems. No Democrat has done the same. You haven’t done the same. How do you think about that?
Letitia James
I wrote a letter along with my colleagues. I authored the letter to Congress urging that they pass legislation with respect to AI. It was my office that was responsible for the legislation that will go into effect in January, working with the state legislature. It’s called the RAISE Act, which requires AI companies to notify my office whenever there is —
Akash Mehta
Absolutely, but do you think that these — some attorneys general, some of the Republican counterparts, say that this technology is too dangerous to develop and should be halted because it poses a danger to all of us. Your office has cited catastrophic risks from this technology. Do you think that it is safe to develop?
Letitia James
No, which is why come January we will be working with the legislature to pass additional legislation to mitigate risks of AI. And as the only attorney general who will be giving a forum before NAAG, National Association of Attorneys General, which includes those three attorneys general, on AI in December — I would disagree with your position that they’ve been in the forefront. I would argue that New York has been in the forefront. We were in the forefront last year when we passed the RAISE Act. We were in the forefront of a letter. We were in the forefront of discussing a bipartisan approach to AI. It was led by New York.
Nicole Gelinas
Just as we asked your opponent, could you rank the last five attorneys general from good to bad, and why?
Letitia James
Oh, that’s not fair. So I really like Barbara Underwood.
Myles Miller
We didn’t say Acting [AG].
Letitia James
Barbara Underwood is still in the office, and she does an amazing job. I worked for Spitzer, so I really can’t rank him. I worked for him. I was head of his Brooklyn regional office and part of —
Nicole Gelinas
Do you think he did a good job?
Letitia James
Well, let me just tell you what we did. I was part of the Civil Rights Bureau at the time, where we investigated stop-and-frisk.
Andrew Cuomo is Andrew Cuomo, and he did some good cases as well. Vacco is a nice man, and I’m sure he did some fine cases, but not as aggressive as I would have liked. And of course the attorney general who was responsible for creating all of the regional offices — we’ve got 16 regional offices, which focus on consumer — is Bob Abrams. Bob Abrams, who wrote a book recently, and I did the foreword. And Schneiderman had his moments, and I worked very closely with him as public advocate of the city.
Ben Smith
That wasn’t really a ranking.
Ben Max
You don’t have animus towards Donald Trump. Do you have any animus towards Andrew Cuomo?
Letitia James
No, not at all. I saw Andrew Cuomo at 9/11.
Ben Max
What did you guys talk about? Everyone was wondering.
Letitia James
We talked about the weather.
Ben Smith
Well, thank you. Thank you so much for taking the time and being so game.
Letitia James
Thank you. Appreciate it.
