New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Friday filed a motion to dismiss the federal fraud charges brought against her by the Trump administration, arguing the case was based on President Trump‘s political animus.
“The government targeted AG James for prosecution because of the President’s genuine animus towards her protected campaign speech and fulfillment of her statutory obligations as New York Attorney General,” The motion reads. “This indictment is the product of vindictive and selective prosecution, in violation of the Fifth Amendment.”
The 50-page filing details comments Trump has made about James, including rhetoric her attorneys said amounted to the “flagrantly unconstitutional” prosecution.
The motion details James’ 2022 civil fraud investigation into Trump, who was out of office at the time, and his business empire. A New York judge found Trump liable for fraud and ordered him to pay a $354.8 million penalty comprised of ill-gotten gains from loan savings and property sales, which expanded to over $500 million with interest before an appeals court wiped the fine in August.
“This lawsuit, and AG James’ outspoken criticism of the President, triggered six years of targeted attacks,” James’s lawyers wrote in Friday‘s filing. “President Trump and his allies have used every insulting term in their vocabulary to deride AG James and call for criminal penalties in retaliation for the exercise of her rights and fulfillment of her statutory duties to fulfill her obligations as New York state’s attorney general.”
In directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate James, the attorney general cited Trump’s use of words and phrases like “SCUM,” “a Complete and Total Disaster,” “racist,” “weak” and “a monster” to describe her. Her lawyers argued that the president‘s comments cannot be deemed “mere opinion or as condemnations of her alleged mortgage fraud.”
“The President and his allies have called for AG James’ prosecution for years, more fully evidenced by [U.S. Attorney General Pam] Bondi’s statement to the Senate Oversight Committee in response to a question about the President’s post directing her to charge AG James: ‘I don’t think he said anything that he hasn’t said for years.'”
Her motion also referred to the charges against her as being “invidious and in bad faith,” and called the DOJ “too tainted with unconstitutional motivation to bring these charges fairly.”
At her arraignment on Oct. 23, James pleaded not guilty to charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution — that were brought forward over allegations she misrepresented her plans for a Virginia home, allowing her to obtain favorable loan terms.
James was also accused of falsely claiming on mortgage documents that she would use a Norfolk, Va., home as a secondary residence, but instead rented it to a family of three. The indictment claims that this saved her nearly $19,000.
A week before her arraignment in federal court in Norfolk, Va., she said she would fight the DOJ’s case against her.
“I stand on sold rock and I will not bow, I will not break, I will not bend,” James said at a rally for New York City then-mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (D), according to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network.
They Empire State‘s top prosecutor said, “powerful voices” tried “to punish [her for] speaking the truth” and “weaponizing justice for political gain,” without naming Trump at the rally. She added that the charges were “baseless” and were part of the administration seeking “political retribution at any cost.”
The trial is scheduled for Jan. 26.
Along with James, the DOJ also indicted other perceived political opponents of the president.
Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty to charges in connection with a testimony he gave before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020. He is accused of falsely claiming during the hearing that he did not authorize a leak to news media about the FBI’s investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Trump-Russia probe.
Former national security adviser John Bolton also pleaded not guilty to 18 criminal charges in which the DOJ accused him of mishandling classified materials. The indictment charged him in connection with transmitting and retaining national defense information and claimed that he sent “diary-like entries” to two relatives about his day-to-day work as Trump’s adviser and kept sensitive records at his home in a Maryland suburb after leaving the position.
On Sunday, Trump defended the indictments and dismissed that they were political retribution.
“No, it’s the opposite,” Trump said in an interview with Norah O’Donnell on CBS News’s “60 Minutes.” “I think I’ve been very mild-mannered.”
He defended himself as needing to “beat the rap.”
“Otherwise, I couldn’t have run for president,” he continued. “They tried to get me not to run for president by going after me and by indicting me.”
