The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to people familiar with the matter. Two grand-jury subpoenas were issued on 8 August through the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albany, signaling an escalation from preliminary inquiries to a formal probe. One subpoena seeks records tied to James’s civil fraud suit against President Donald Trump, which resulted in a judgment now exceeding $454 million after a judge ruled that Trump inflated his net worth. The second subpoena focuses on James’s separate lawsuit against the National Rifle Association. Both cases are under appeal. Investigators are examining whether James’s office violated Trump’s civil rights in bringing the fraud case, the sources said. James’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, denounced the inquiry as “the most blatant and desperate” act of political retribution, while a spokesperson for the attorney general warned against the “weaponization of the justice system.” The Justice Department declined to comment. Federal scrutiny of a sitting state attorney general over litigation that has already survived trial and appellate review is rare, underscoring mounting tensions between the Trump administration and officials who have pursued legal actions against the president and his political allies.