The Object of Their Ire

Letitia James has earned the wrath of Andrew Cuomo. She’s investigating Donald Trump. Can she prevail over two of the meanest men in politics?

- By Rebecca Traister. Photography by Mark Peterson

In august 2019, New York State attorney general Letitia James was on a boat, fishing, with Andrew Cuomo. The then governor had asked her to take a tourism-boosting trip to Lake Ontario. It was almost a year into her first term, which she had won in part thanks to his decision to throw his political weight behind her 2018 primary bid.

It wasn’t well known at the time, but Cuomo and James had recently experienced a bumpy patch. In June, James had overridden Cuomo’s wishes by issuing a statement supporting the Green Light bill, which granted undocumented New York residents the ability to legally apply for driver’s licenses. Cuomo publicly favored the measure but, according to James and members of her staff, privately wanted her office to rule it unconstitutional.

At Lake Ontario, six weeks after their clash over Green Light, Cuomo had insisted that they fish alone, with only a captain and first mate aboard. No staffers would join them on the boat, and photographers would capture images from a separate vessel. One of James’s aides recalled how she and her colleagues had watched their boss head out onto the water, joking nervously about whether they’d ever see her again.