OPINION:
New York Attorney General Letitia James has declared open lawfare on a new target after spending years going after President Trump.
Ms. James, who is under criminal investigation for mortgage fraud, is holding conservative activist Jason McGuire as a literal political prisoner for missing a few receipts on a campaign finance report.
Her message is clear: Conservatives won’t be tolerated in the Empire State. Remain silent, sidelined and out of the way — or else.
Mr. McGuire is a married father of four children, a former pastor and a longtime conservative activist based in New York. He and his wife, Lorenne McGuire, have been married since 1996. After discerning God’s call to full-time Christian ministry, he studied theology in college before pastoring Ingleside Christian Church in Naples, New York.
He has served the pro-family New York Families Foundation since 2007, defending Christian principles such as the sanctity of life, marriage and religious freedom in a state hostile to Christian values. Mr. McGuire now serves as the organization’s executive director.
All considered, Mr. McGuire is a model citizen. In New York, however, that doesn’t deserve praise; it warrants prosecution and punishment.
In 2018, the New York attorney general’s office began investigating New York Families based on an unfounded complaint from a political rival. The office demanded thousands of pages of documents, including donor lists, sermon recordings and private information on New York Families’ supporters.
After New York Families turned over 7,000 pages of documents and spent tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees, the only mistake the attorney general’s office found was that Mr. McGuire had made three minor omissions on a campaign finance report totaling $1,283.76, unrelated to his service at New York Families.
That’s right. Mr. McGuire’s “crime” was missing receipts for less than $1,300 in expenditures. Yet that was enough to earn him a ticket straight to jail. He began his first of eight weekends behind bars on Friday, July 25.
Funny. New York is usually pretty lax on criminal acts such as theft of vehicles, grand larceny, robbery and rape, but make an honest mistake on a campaign finance report? Right to jail.
Never mind the technical reason Mr. McGuire is serving time. His real “crime” is being a bold and influential conservative activist in a state where lawfare is the norm, not the exception.
“Letitia James weaponized her office to target me because I dared to speak against her radical, pro-abortion policies,” Mr. McGuire said in a statement on July 25. “For more than three years, her office harassed my family, my staff, and my ministry — demanding donor lists, monitoring bank accounts and threatening my wife. … Rather than drain a quarter-million dollars fighting an overzealous prosecution, I accepted a misdemeanor plea. But make no mistake — this is not justice. It’s political retribution.”
After Mr. McGuire pleaded guilty to the campaign finance violations to avoid a lengthy and expensive courtroom trial, Ms. James spontaneously accused Mr. McGuire of illegally spending more than $16,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses, which was not what he pleaded guilty to.
Mr. McGuire’s attorney quickly demanded that Assistant Attorney General Susan Sadinsky retract the “false and misleading” statement.
“There is absolutely nothing in the Superior Court Information, nor in the plea agreement … that makes any mention whatsoever of any other transfers of funds, nor of anything having to do with his personal expenses,” his attorney wrote. “Mr. McGuire adamantly denies any such allegations by the Attorney General.”
In New York, lawfare against conservatives is nothing new. On Nov. 6, 2018, Ms. James promised at her victory party that she would use official powers as the state attorney general to go after Mr. Trump. Upon taking power, she launched a three-year investigation into Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization and filed a lawsuit against the president in September 2022. This led to Judge Arthur Engoron’s $450 million judgment, which the president has appealed.
Now, in a twist of fate, the Justice Department has opened an investigation into Ms. James’ potential mortgage fraud for allegedly falsely claiming a Norfolk, Virginia, home as her primary residence in 2023 to secure better mortgage rates — despite her official residence being in New York. She is also accused of fraud for allegedly misrepresenting the number of livable units in a multifamily Brooklyn home to receive better interest rates.
But Jason McGuire? He must be jailed by Ms. James for an honest mistake, solely because he is a conservative activist in New York.
“I will serve these weekends in jail, but I will not be silent,” Mr. McGuire said on July 25, just hours before beginning his incarceration. “I will not stop defending life, marriage, parental rights, and religious liberty in New York. If anything, this only strengthens my resolve.”
As Mr. McGuire prepares to spend his fourth weekend in jail by himself, millions of Christians and conservatives stand right by his side.
If you’re a person of faith, consider sending a prayer his way.
• Zachary Mettler is a policy issues writer and analyst at Focus on the Family.
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