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Trump and his company filed the federal lawsuit on Monday, Dec. 20 to block James’ ongoing civil investigation into the Trump Organization.
James had been investigating whether the Trump Organization misstated the value of certain real estate assets to obtain better interest rates, while lowering tax obligations, after the former president's former attorney Michael Cohen made those claims to Congress.
It is alleged that the Trump Organization overinflated property values to secure financing on multiple occasions. They reportedly lowered property values on some forms for tax agents but raised them to look better for financial lenders.
In response, Trump and his company filed a lawsuit in Albany federal court claiming that the probe is a “witch hunt” and asking a judge to stop it.
In a statement, Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, said that “Letitia James targets President Trump with a callous disregard for the ethical and moral obligations she swore to abide by when she became Attorney General.
“She has short-changed the state by commencing this partisan investigation and has forever tarnished the sanctity of her office,” Habba added.
“By filing this lawsuit, we intend to not only hold her accountable for her blatant constitutional violations, but to stop her bitter crusade to punish her political opponent in its tracks.”
In his filing, Trump is alleging that the investigation launched by the AG’s office “is in no way connected to legitimate law enforcement goals, but rather, are merely a thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign Trump and his associates.
The filing includes tweets from James regarding Trump, including criticisms the AG made about the former president while campaigning for her seat, before and then after she was inaugurated.
Trump, who is a Republican, argues that both Vance and James, who are Democrats, are investigating him for political reasons, calling the inquiries “witch hunts.”
“Her mission is guided solely by political animus and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent.”
James was quick to fire back at Trump, taking him to task in a statement released following the announcement the former president planned to file a lawsuit in the Northern District of New York.
“The Trump Organization has continually sought to delay our investigation into its business dealings and now Donald Trump and his namesake company have filed a lawsuit as an attempted collateral attack on that investigation,” she said.
“To be clear, neither Mr. Trump nor the Trump Organization get to dictate if and where they will answer for their actions,” James continued. “Our investigation will continue undeterred because no one is above the law, not even someone with the name Trump.”
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