A whistleblower in the state Attorney General’s Office was ordered to dig up dirt on President Trump, even after a year-long probe found no wrongdoing – because it was what AG Letitia James was demanding, he told The Post.
Daniel Wiesenfeld, a prosecutor in the Investor Protection Bureau, claimed he was told by Bureau Chief Shamiso Maswoswe to keep trying to make a case against Trump and his pals despite finding no evidence that there was a crime.
“By June 2026, after several meetings, we had become exasperated,” Wiesenfeld told The Post in an exclusive interview. “Shamiso told us, in sum and substance, that she agreed with us and that if it were her call, she would close the case – but that it was Tish’s call.
J.C. Rice for NY Post
“Tish was the boss and what Tish wanted, Tish got,” he said. “So we had to keep going.”
Wiesenfeld has been at odds with his boss since August, when he blasted out an email to more than 2,000 colleagues claiming he was being forced to find dirt on Trump and his pals.
“If you believe Trump is using the [Department of Justice] attorneys to prosecute his enemies to further his political interests, you should find it equally troubling that Tish is doing exactly the same thing,” the email said.
“I ask you that you not serve as Tish’s personal attorneys by targetting her political enemies,” he added. “Instead, I hope you choose to prosecute crimes and find the individuals accountable, rather than targeting individuals and then find the crimes.”
A copy of the email was obtained by the Times-Union and made public, unleashing a firestorm of controversy and leading to Wiesenfeld getting placed on administrative leave.
He was later fired.
The controversy started when he was assigned to investigate an insider-trading claim against a company affiliated with the Trump family. He said the case was based on a tip from a “cryptic text” that was never shared with him.
Wiesenfeld said he was given the assignment on July 25, 2025, with the tip from an unlisted phone number suggesting that Donald Trump Jr. and his associates were selling inside info to private companies for millions.
“I asked for information about the cryptic text and any context that could be provided, but my boss, Shamiso Maswoswe, told me they could not provide me with more information.
Despite being kept in the dark, “we affirmatively conclude that no crime had taken place,” Wiesenfeld said.
When he was told to keep pursuing the case, he said he “pushed back.
“I said the investigation was a waste of time and that there was no way forward,” he told The Post. “Nevertheless, I was directed to send subpoenas to several banks, wasting taxpayer dollars and the banks’ resources on what I believed was a fruitless, politically motivated investigation.”
The Post later confirmed that the FBI and DOJ also looked into Wiesenfeld’s claims.
Earlier this week, Wiesenfeld claimed he was being threatened by the AG’s office for refusing to delete evidence of the alleged corruption.
In an exchange of emails – copies of which were obtained by The Post under state Freedom of Information law — Wiesenfeld denied earlier this week that the documents in question were “confidential and privileged information,” as the AG claimed.
“These documents are simply evidence and your threats will not compel me to destroy such evidence,” he wrote. “If anything, carrying out your threats by bringing this to a legal forum will make this information public.”
