From Fani Willis to Letitia James, Trump’s Enemies List Targets Black Women Prosecutors

Christina Carrega, CapitalB

The president’s first administration set the groundwork for federal investigations against Black women leaders.

New York Attorney General Letitia “Tish” James did not fold when a federal grand jury in Virginia indicted her. Days after the Oct. 9 announcement, she took the stage at the United Palace in Manhattan to stump for New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani. 

On the evening of Oct. 13, dressed in a sharp black pantsuit and her signature middle-part bob, James stepped confidently onto the auditorium stage to cheers from a crowd of Mamdani supporters — herself among them. 

With a courtroom appearance looming on Oct. 24, James channeled her Brooklyn-born grit, and refused to back down. 

“Today, I am not fearful, I am fearless, and as my faith teaches me, no weapon formed against me shall prosper,” she said. “I will not bow. I will not break. I will not bend. I will not capitulate. I won’t give up, and I won’t give in.”

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In February 2024, James’ office secured a civil fraud judgment against President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization, barring him from doing business in New York for three years. (The multimillion-dollar penalty against Trump was later overturned on appeal).  

A little more than a year and a half later, the first Black woman elected as attorney general of New York became the latest target in a continuing campaign by Trump to seek retribution against those who he perceives to have wronged him. Legal experts and civil rights advocates told Capital B they worry this signaled a troubling shift of public servants no longer being a vehicle for justice, but rather a battleground for ideological control.

James joins a growing list of high-profile Black women in public service who are under increased scrutiny by the Trump administration. 

Learn about the other powerful Black women Trump has targeted.

James recently received a standing ovation from the public.

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