“Investigating the fraud case Attorney General James won against President Trump and his businesses has to be the most blatant and desperate example of this administration’s carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign,” an attorney for AG James said.
The U.S. Department of Justice has subpoenaed New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal and powerful adversaries.
According to CNN, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York issued two separate subpoenas seeking information on James’ prior investigations into Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, and the National Rifle Association.
The agency has also convened a grand jury to assess the possibility of prosecuting James for allegedly infringing upon President Donald Trump’s constitutional rights.
An attorney for James has since stated that the Justice Department’s investigations have an obvious political motivation.
“Investigating the fraud case Attorney General James won against President Trump and his businesses has to be the most blatant and desperate example of this administration’s carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign,” attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement.
“Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration,” Lowell said. “If prosecutors carry out this improper tactic and are genuinely interested in the truth, we are ready and waiting with the facts and law.”
CNN notes that Trump’s antipathy toward James largely relates to her legal success against the president, his company, and powerful conservative organizations.
In September 2022, for instance, James’s office filed a sweeping civil lawsuit accusing Trump of defrauding investors by inflating the value of Trump Organization-owned properties. The case went to trial, where a jury ultimately found Trump liable for fraud and ordered that he pay more than $450 million in penalties.
During the trial, Trump repeatedly accused James of scapegoating him to advance her own career.
“This is a political witch hunt, and I think she should be ashamed of herself,” Trump said from the witness stand.
“You believe this political hack back there, and that’s unfortunate,” he said at another point, clearly referring to James.
James also succeeded in winning an unrelated lawsuit against the National Rifle Association, which she had accused of diverting donor funds to the organization’s top executives, who subsequently spent millions on luxury clothing, leisure travel, and unfulfilled no-show contracts.
In that case, a jury decided that longtime NRA leader Wayne LaPierre must repay $4.3 million in damages for the mismanagement and misuse of charitable donations.
“Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American,” James’s office told CNN in a statement. “We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers’ rights.”
Sources
Justice Department escalates scrutiny of Trump foes with probes of Letitia James and Adam Schiff
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