Federal investigators interviewed a whistleblower from the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) for several hours on Tuesday after he alleged that staff were directed to target President Donald Trump and his associates, according to a source familiar with the interview.
Daniel Wiesenfeld, an assistant attorney general now on paid administrative leave, met with criminal and civil attorneys from the FBI and Justice Department, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to the Washington Examiner. The scope of the federal interest and whether investigators have opened a formal investigation are unclear.
Wiesenfeld made the allegations on Friday in an office-wide email sent to more than 2,000 employees, according to a copy obtained by the Times Union, which first reported the whistleblower’s claims.
In the email, Wiesenfeld alleged that Shamiso Maswoswe, chief of the attorney general’s Investor Protection Bureau, instructed him “to find and pursue crimes committed by specific individuals and organizations affiliated with Donald Trump.”
He claimed the potential targets included “Trump himself, Truth Social, Hewlett Packard” and others, despite what he described as an absence of credible reasons to investigate them.
“If you believe Trump is using the [Department of Justice] attorneys to prosecute his enemies and further his political interests, you should find it equally troubling that Tish [James] is doing exactly the same thing,” Wiesenfeld wrote, according to the Times Union.
He urged colleagues to prosecute crimes and identify those responsible, rather than “targeting individuals and then finding crimes.”
The email was quickly deleted from the attorney general’s servers and disappeared from employees’ inboxes, the Times Union reported. James’s general counsel subsequently told staff that the situation was an internal matter and that no employees were in danger.
James’s office said Wiesenfeld had been placed on administrative leave with full pay and characterized the dispute as a personnel matter.
“The office of the attorney general is committed to upholding New York’s laws and protecting the rights and freedoms of all New Yorkers, regardless of political beliefs,” spokeswoman Alexis Richards told the outlet on Friday. “We strongly reject any assertion to the contrary.”
Wiesenfeld has worked in James’s office for about two years and previously served as a Brooklyn prosecutor. He has handled major matters for the Investor Protection Bureau, including litigation that accused companies of illegally operating prediction-market platforms.
Levi Stoep, a partner at the law firm Dordrecht Layton representing Wiesenfeld, told the Washington Examiner that “Mr. Wiesenfeld has no public comment at the current time.”
The accusations emerge from a long-running political and legal conflict between James and Trump. James campaigned in 2018 on investigating Trump’s business dealings and later secured a controversial civil fraud judgment against Trump, his two sons, and a company official. An appeals court upheld the fraud finding in 2025 but eliminated the financial penalty of more than $360 million.
The New York Post first reported Wednesday afternoon that the interview with federal investigators had taken place the day before, citing multiple sources.
Trump has repeatedly accused James of weaponizing her office against him. James, meanwhile, has accused his administration of political retaliation through federal investigations focused on her.
The investigative interview came as federal appeals court will hear arguments later this month over a federal judge’s decision finding that one of Trump’s U.S. attorneys in Virginia was unlawfully appointed, resulting in the dismissal of a federal mortgage fraud indictment against her.
A spokeswoman for the White House told the Washington Examiner Wiesenfeld’s allegations point to further evidence that James had used the justice system to target Trump and his political allies.
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“This is more proof of the weaponization of the justice system by Leticia James to target President Trump and her political opponents,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said. “The far-left Democrats lawfare against President Trump, his family, and allies must stop.”
James’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.