An assistant attorney general in New York’s Investor Protection Bureau says he was directed by a supervisor to hunt for crimes committed by Donald Trump and entities tied to him, rather than investigate specific wrongdoing and follow it where it led.
Daniel Wiesenfeld, a seven-year veteran of Attorney General Letitia James’ office in Albany, sent an email Friday morning to roughly 2,000 colleagues describing pressure from his supervisor, Shamiso Maswoswe, to “find and pursue crimes committed by specific individuals and organizations affiliated with Donald Trump.” Wiesenfeld wrote that he was told to “target Trump himself, Truth Social, Hewlett Packard (DOJ approved merger) … without having a credible reason for targeting this organizations and individuals,” according to the Albany Times Union, which first reported the email.
Wiesenfeld was placed on administrative leave with pay after sending the message, the Times Union reported. The email was deleted from the office’s servers and vanished from staff inboxes. A follow-up message from one of James’ executive assistants described the episode as an “internal” matter and told employees they were not “in danger,” according to people familiar with the communication.
A spokesperson for James told the Times Union: “This is a personnel matter, and the employee in question has been placed on administrative leave with full pay. 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. We strongly reject any assertion to the contrary.” James’ office did not respond to a request for comment from The Federalist on Monday.
What Wiesenfeld Wrote
According to a copy of the email obtained by the New York Post, Wiesenfeld opened by writing: “The best part of having f–k you money is being able to tell the truth, without fear of consequences so here we go.”
“If you believe Trump is using (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. “I ask that you not serve as Tish’s personal attorneys by targeting her political enemies. Instead, I hope you choose to prosecute crimes and find the individuals accountable, rather than targeting individuals and then finding crimes.”
Wiesenfeld also wrote that James has spent “significant public taxpayer dollars to target convenient public enemies” while overlooking “rampant non-profit homeless shelter fraud, Medicaid fraud, and crimes in and around synagogues.” He added, according to New York Post columnist Miranda Devine: “Tish is prioritizing political theater and getting re-elected in November over actually improving the quality of life of New Yorkers.”
The People Involved
Wiesenfeld has worked in the Investor Protection Bureau for years and recently helped lead the office’s lawsuit against Coinbase Financial Markets and Gemini Titan over allegedly unlicensed gambling operations run through prediction-market platforms. The Times Union reports his reference to Hewlett Packard concerns James’ and other Democratic attorneys general’s opposition to HP’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks.
Maswoswe, Wiesenfeld’s supervisor, joined the attorney general’s office in 2019 after working at the U.S. Department of Justice during the Trump administration. In a 2021 discrimination lawsuit, Maswoswe alleged she was wrongfully fired from the DOJ for breastfeeding her child in the office and bringing the infant on work trips, and that she was retaliated against for complaining she was treated differently than male, childless colleagues. Bloomberg Law reported in 2023 that the department paid nearly $800,000 to settle the case without admitting wrongdoing.
Background
James campaigned for attorney general in 2018 in part on a pledge to pursue Trump. In 2023 her office brought a civil fraud case against Trump, his sons and his company; Judge Arthur Engoron issued a large penalty, which a New York appellate court later reduced last year, ruling the original half-billion-dollar figure was excessive.
Kyle Brosnan, general counsel for the Oversight Project, said the new allegations track with what critics have long argued about James’ office. “New York Attorney General James ran for office on the promise that she would weaponize her office to unfairly target President Trump and his allies. It was obvious from the start that her actions against President Trump were politically motivated and illegitimate,” Brosnan said in a text to The Federalist Monday. “These bombshell revelations provide yet another reason why the people of New York should be embarrassed, disappointed, and disgusted by their chief law enforcement officer.”
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