A New York prosecutor says his boss ordered him to target Trump without cause.
Assistant Attorney General Daniel Wiesenfeld sent a bombshell email to the entire New York Attorney General’s office on Friday, Aug. 28, accusing the office of selecting political targets first and hunting for crimes second. Shortly after the message hit more than 2,000 employee inboxes, it was deleted from the office’s servers. Wiesenfeld was then placed on administrative leave with full pay.
Wiesenfeld works in the Investor Protection Bureau and is based at the office’s Manhattan financial district headquarters. He spent roughly two years with the AG’s office after previously serving as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn.
In his email, Wiesenfeld named Investor Protection Bureau Chief Shamiso Maswoswe as the supervisor who allegedly gave him the order. He wrote that Maswoswe directed him to target “Trump himself, Truth Social, Hewlett Packard (DOJ approved merger) … without having a credible reason for targeting this organizations and individuals.” Truth Social is owned by Trump Media and Technology Group. The Hewlett Packard reference involved Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks.
As originally reported, the email vanished from employee inboxes after being pulled from the office’s servers. General Counsel Kumiki Gibson followed up with a message calling it an “internal” matter and assuring staff that no one was “in danger.”
Wiesenfeld drew a direct parallel between his accusations and criticism of the Trump administration’s use of federal prosecutors. “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,” he wrote. He urged colleagues to pursue crimes based on evidence, not based on who the target is. “I hope you choose to prosecute crimes and find the individuals accountable, rather than targeting individuals and then finding crimes,” he added.
He also accused James of directing “significant public taxpayer dollars” toward political opponents while ignoring nonprofit homeless shelter fraud and antisemitic crimes near synagogues.
Before the email went public, Wiesenfeld had handled notable cases for the office. In April, he filed lawsuits against Coinbase Financial Markets, Gemini, and Titan LLC, accusing them of illegally operating gambling through prediction-market platforms. He could not be reached for comment.
The accusations come after years of friction between James and Trump. Before even taking office in 2018, James discussed legislation designed to allow New York to prosecute conduct covered by a presidential pardon. Her office later brought the civil business fraud case that resulted in disgorgement awards of roughly $364 million against Trump and other defendants. A New York appellate court vacated those awards in August 2025 while otherwise upholding the judgment.
Spokesperson Alexis Richards rejected Wiesenfeld’s claims. “We strongly reject any assertion to the contrary,” Richards said, calling the dispute a personnel matter.