During the not-so-long-ago Biden Administration years, certain Democratic officials seemed to operate under an unwritten rule: if your politics were correct, your conduct was irrelevant.
While one of the most memorable beneficiaries of this rule will always be Hillary Clinton, in the more recent past there such high profile examples as Hunter Biden, as well as Adam Schiff, Anthony Fauci, and the others pardoned at the 11th hour of America’s long national nightmare under “Uncle Joe.” But there are signs that Democratic scofflaws who did not rate for pardons may finally receive some serious attention from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The first clue is the apparent grand jury investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James. James rose to national prominence not for her stewardship of New York law enforcement, but for her high-profile legal crusade against Donald Trump. That campaign earned her glowing headlines, a national following, and a kind of prosecutorial immunity among Democratic partisans.
But now that Trump is back in the White House and Pam Bondi occupies the Attorney General’s seat, that special Democratic immunity that insulates well-connected politicians is dissolving. A federal grand jury in Virginia is now investigating James for mortgage fraud, raising the possibility that her legal career could end not with a campaign for governor, but with a federal indictment.
The allegation at the core of the investigation — that is, mortgage fraud — is strikingly similar to the actions of former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson. Jackson has admitted, multiple times, that he never made an Augusta home his principal residence despite swearing to do so as a requirement for the low-rate Federal Housing Administration loan he received. Rather than making the house his principal residence, Jackson sued the former owners and then flipped it for a cool six-figure capital gain.
When The Maine Wire pointed out the discrepancy between his sworn claims in the mortgage agreement versus his claims via campaign filings to have always been an Allagash resident, Jackson found himself in a pickle.
Jackson had sworn in campaign documents that his principal residence was in Allagash, but at the same time he vowed in his mortgage agreement to make his principal residence in Augusta — 287 miles from his Senate District. Both claims couldn’t be true. During his resulting Ethics Commission proceedings, Jackson adamantly affirmed that his principal residence was in Aroostook County, not Kennebec County — a statement that amounted to yet another admission that he’d lied on the mortgage forms.
According to a criminal referral from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, James allegedly misrepresented her primary residence status to obtain favorable terms on a home in Norfolk, Va. — nearly identical to what Jackson has publicly admitted to doing. In both cases, the issue is not just bureaucratic sloppiness. A sworn document filed in August 2023 states James intended to live in the Norfolk house as her primary residence, even though her job required her to reside in New York. Her niece ultimately moved into the home, and James later claimed the form was a mistake. The “mistake,” however, happened to secure a lower interest rate—an advantage reserved for primary residences.
Similarly, Jackson has claimed not to have read the mortgage agreement that he made false statements on — false statements that helped him secure an advantageous interest rate. If the same equal application of justice James is experiencing comes to Maine, then Jackson might get a chance to see how his “I didn’t read the FHA loan agreement” defense holds up in court.
For what it’s worth, his mortgage broker denied any wrongdoing when Maine’s then-most powerful lawmaker attempted to throw him under the bus.
In James’s case, the initial false statements on some FHA mortgage forms appear to be just the tip of the iceberg, and that could also be the case with Jackson.
While Jackson’s mortgage mishap is obvious from the mortgage agreement itself and his statements afterward, the lawsuit he filed against the home sellers put additional facts on record that may point toward insurance fraud. In addition, Jackson pocketed roughly $160k in reimbursements from 2019 to 2023 for travel and lodging, with his travel payment rate based on 600-mile round trips he claims to have made from Allagash to Augusta and back despite owning a home, and later renting a condo, just miles from the State House during that period.
So far, there have been no state or federal charges against Jackson. But with James now under the microscope, Jackson’s case could well draw federal attention. And if Jackson should decide to run for another elected office, such as the governor’s seat or a potentially open Second Congressional District seat, then he may have campaigns on the left and the right interested in drawing attention to his predicament. If, for example, he joined the Democratic gubernatorial primary, one could easily see Secretary of State Shenna Bellows rejoicing in the fruit of The Maine Wire’s investigative reporting.
Jackson will rightly claim that the Maine ethics commission voted against investigating him. But that’s only because the toothless commission has no jurisdiction over mortgage fraud, insurance fraud, or even improper legislative reimbursements. The commission’s vote won’t matter at all if the Federal Housing Finance Agency decides to send up a criminal referral for Jackson. In the court of public opinion, Mainers will reasonably wonder Biden’s former U.S. Attorney in Maine nailed Merton Weed, Jr., of Norway, for FHA fraud while leaving Jackson alone for the same offense.
As with James’s case, Jackson’s fate will show whether Maine is a place with two standards of justice—one for the regular working stiffs and another for politically connected bozos. Both cases involve experienced public officials who made false statements on signed, legally binding documents for their personal benefit. In a functioning legal system, these facts would be enough to warrant a real investigation—and perhaps prosecution. During the Trump interregnum, the Democratic Party’s institutional control of law enforcement and media oversight meant that such behavior could be waved away as partisan smears. That era may be ending.
