Trump is suing the New York attorney general to stop investigating his company
Totally the move of someone who has nothing to hide.
There are a lot of things that former President Donald Trump will go down in infamy for — like his attempted coup. But if there’s one thing that I think deserves more of our collective ridicule, it’s his tendency to file frivolous lawsuits to avoid reality. Even though Trump is now out of office, he’s back at it again. On Monday, Trump sued New York Attorney General Letitia James in federal court to stop an ongoing investigation into his business — a move that totally doesn’t make him or the Trump Organization look suspicious.
During his presidency, Trump faced a lot of inquiries about his personal business practices. Concerns that Trump was profiting off his presidency were driven by reports that found Republicans spent millions at Trump resorts after he became president and that the Secret Service spent over $250,000 within his first five months in office. But James, specifically, is conducting a probe of the Trump Organization to determine if it inflated its assets to get better loans, insurance rates, and tax breaks.
Because James’s inquiry is a civil probe, there are no charges attached, although if James finds any wrongdoing, she could file a lawsuit. That threat became all too real after James dropped out of the race for New York governor earlier this month and made it clear that she plans to kick off 2022 by deposing Trump.
“I have come to the conclusion that I must continue my work as attorney general,” James tweeted earlier this month. “There are a number of important investigations and cases that are underway, and I intend to finish the job.”
James’s investigation is mirrored by a criminal investigation conducted by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. According to CNBC, Trump claims that both Vance and James are only looking into him because they’re Democrats, and he’s called their efforts “witch hunts” before.
Trump’s layers seem to be using the same broken logic in their lawsuit. CNBC reported that the lawsuit alleges that James “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.” It talks about James’s “bitter crusade” and how she has “tirelessly bombarded” Trump, his family, and his business with “unwarranted” subpoenas.
According to The New York Times, the lawsuit also points to James’s “longstanding animosity” toward Trump and his company as proof that the investigation has been tainted. The outlet stated that Trump’s lawsuit points to James’s Twitter as evidence of her bias against the former president — specifically, a 2017 tweet where James said she was “leading the resistance against Donald Trump in NYC”, and a 2018 fundraising appeal where James wrote, “New Yorkers need a fighter who will take on Donald Trump [and] stand up for our rights.”
If you ever needed to find an example of reaching, Trump’s lawsuit against James is it. And while Trump and his lawyers are attempting to manipulate language to paint him as a poor, private citizen being bullied by New York’s attorney general, that’s far from the truth. At the end of the day, Trump isn’t a private citizen like you or me. He was president — and he’s got a lot to answer for regarding that.
