Letitia James is the current Attorney General of New York who is leading a civil investigation into whether the Trump Organization misled lenders, insurers and tax authorities by providing misleading financial documents.

James is a member of the Democratic Party and has been in her current position after winning the 2018 election to succeed appointed Attorney General Barbara Underwood.

The 63-year-old is the first African-American and first woman to be elected to the position.

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James was born and raised in Brooklyn. She obtained her J.D. degree at Howard University in Washington, D.C., after graduating from Lehman College in The Bronx. In 2013, she attended Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in New York City for a degree in Master of Public Administration.

Her initial career started as a public defender, following which she went on to work in the New York State Assembly, and later as a New York State Assistant Attorney General (Brooklyn Regional Office).

James served as a member of the New York City Council from 2004 to 2013. She represented the 35th district, comprising of the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, parts of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, and Bedford-Stuyvesant.

In May 2018, she initially planned to run for Mayor of New York City but, in 2021, she declared her candidacy for Attorney General of New York.

In 2020, James announced filing a civil lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against the National Rifle Association (NRA), with four NRA department heads named as co-defendants. A countersuit against James was also filed.

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She was a candidate in the 2022 New York gubernatorial election but she suspended her campaign on December 9, 2021, opting to run for re-election as attorney general instead.