President Trump’s authorized battles with New York AG Letitia James – NBC New York

The day she was elected New York’s lawyer common, Letitia James blasted President Donald Trump as a “con man” and “carnival barker” and pledged to scrutinize his public insurance policies and private enterprise dealings. As James mounted a lawsuit claiming that Trump’s enterprise persona was constructed partly on lies, he returned fireplace, calling her “grossly incompetent” and “an evil particular person.”

James, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, have lengthy been authorized and political foes, tangling in dozens of lawsuits over time.

On Thursday, Trump’s Justice Division indicted James on mortgage fraud expenses after he vowed revenge on his enemies, escalating a feud that has persevered since she campaigned for lawyer common in 2018. She has denied wrongdoing.

This is a have a look at a few of James and Trump’s authorized tussles:

A lawsuit accusing Trump of mendacity about his wealth

James sued Trump after his first time period, alleging in September 2022 that he inflated his internet value by billions of {dollars} by deceptive banks and insurers concerning the worth of belongings resembling Trump Tower and the Mar-a-Lago property in Florida. She dubbed it “The artwork of the steal,” a twist on the title of Trump’s memoir. After a trial, a choose ordered Trump final yr to pay a large financial penalty. An appeals court docket later threw out the penalty, which had grown to greater than $500 million with curiosity, however affirmed a lower-court discovering that Trump dedicated fraud. James is now asking the state’s highest court docket to reinstate the penalty, whereas Trump is searching for to produce other non-monetary punishments lifted.

Face-to-face at a deposition, fireworks in a courtroom

Trump sparred with James at a deposition for her civil fraud lawsuit in April 2023. Answering questions for seven hours at her Manhattan workplace, he instructed her that “the entire case is loopy” and accused her employees of attempting to journey him up like fictional TV lawyer Perry Mason did to witnesses. A couple of months later, they got here face-to-face once more as Trump testified at trial. Trump regarded away from James and scowled as he walked previous her on the best way into court docket. On the witness stand, he accused her of pursuing him to advance her profession. “She’s a political hack, and it is a shame {that a} case like this is occurring,” he testified, including that James “must be ashamed of herself.”

A number one function preventing Trump administration insurance policies

Working with a coalition of Democratic state attorneys common, James sued Trump and his administration a number of instances since he returned to the White Home in January, difficult every part from cuts to funding for counterterrorism and public security to plans to deploy Nationwide Guard troops in Oregon. These efforts started the day after Trump took workplace with a lawsuit difficult his effort to overturn birthright citizenship. Different lawsuits have challenged the work of Elon Musk’s so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity, mass firings of federal employees and the revocation of non permanent protected standing for Venezuelans.

Dozens of lawsuits in Trump’s first time period

Throughout his first time period, James sued the administration no less than 66 instances in a two-year span, difficult insurance policies on environmental, immigration and schooling coverage, well being care and different points. She fought his plans to incorporate a query about immigration standing on the Census, successful within the U.S. Supreme Court docket, and sued the U.S. Postal Service over slowdowns earlier than the 2020 election. Different main victories in the course of the first time period included restoring what’s referred to as Deferred Motion for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, which permits individuals who got here to the nation unlawfully as youngsters to stay, and a ruling that barred immigration authorities from arresting folks at courthouses.

Serving to construct a felony case towards Trump’s firm

James teamed with then-Manhattan District Lawyer Cyrus Vance Jr. to carry tax fraud expenses towards the Trump Group and Allen Weisselberg, its chief monetary officer. The corporate was convicted in 2022 of serving to its executives dodge taxes on extravagant perks resembling Manhattan residences and luxurious automobiles. James assigned two legal professionals to work with Vance’s workplace after uncovering proof of potential felony wrongdoing. James was not concerned when Trump was prosecuted final yr by Alvin Bragg, the present District Lawyer, and convicted of falsifying enterprise information.

Closing down Trump’s charity over misspending

In 2019, James finalized an settlement brokered by her predecessor dissolving his charitable basis and forcing him to pay $2 million to numerous nonprofits as a fantastic for misspending funds to additional his political and enterprise pursuits. The Trump Basis’s $1.7 million in remaining funds have been additionally given away. Trump acknowledged in a court docket submitting that he allowed marketing campaign employees to coordinate with the charity for a veterans fundraiser earlier than the 2016 Iowa caucuses. He additionally admitted to arranging for it to pay $10,000 for a 6-foot (1.8-meter) portrait of him and the spending of $11,525 in basis funds on sports activities memorabilia and Champagne at a charity gala.

Trump fights again, however judges reject his lawsuits

Trump sued James in 2021 in an try to dam her from investigating him and his companies. After a federal choose in New York rapidly threw out the case, Trump sued her once more in Florida. A choose there refused to dam the probe, writing in December 2022: “This litigation has all of the telltale indicators of being each vexatious and frivolous.” Trump deserted efforts to revive his first lawsuit towards James after the Florida choose rejected a lawsuit he filed towards his 2016 presidential election rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. In tossing that case, U.S. District Decide Donald M. Middlebrooks ordered Trump and certainly one of his legal professionals — Alina Habba, at the moment performing U.S. lawyer in New Jersey — to pay almost $1 million for submitting frivolous lawsuits for political functions, which the choose mentioned amounted to a “sample of abuse of the courts.”

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Izaguirre reported from Albany, New York.