Trump Lawsuit Claims NY Attorney General Letitia James Pursuing ‘Crusade’

Former U.S. President Donald Trump greets supporters during a campaign rally at Minden-Tahoe Airport in Minden, Nev., on Oct. 8, 2022. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he’s suing New York Attorney General Letitia James to stop her from what the lawsuit described as a “relentless” and public “crusade ... with the stated goal of destroying him personally, financially, and politically.”

“Today, I filed a lawsuit in Florida State Circuit Court against the corrupt Attorney General of New York State, Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Trump said that while James targets him, she does nothing about the “murders, robberies, drug deals, and every other form of crime” plaguing New York State.

“[S]he attacks great and upstanding businesses which have done nothing wrong, like the very successful, job and tax producing Trump Organization that I have painstakingly built over a long period of years,” he said.

“Crooked and highly partisan James now thinks it is the business of the State of New York to go after my revocable trust and pry into my private estate plan, only to look for ways to recklessly injure me, my family, my businesses, and my tens of millions of supporters.”

Trump’s lawsuit suggests James is politically motivated because the former president leads in the polls against both Democrats and Republicans as he mulls running again in 2024.

“We have to stand up for our Country, fight against illegal persecution, and Make America Great Again!” he added.

Former U.S President Donald Trump speaks at a 'Save America' rally in Robstown, Texas, on Oct. 22, 2022. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Political ‘Crusade’ Could Violate States’ Laws

The lawsuit (pdf), filed by attorneys for Trump in Palm Beach County, alleges James has contravened both New York and Florida law.

It states that James has “repeatedly abused her position as Attorney General for the State of New York to pursue a relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade against President Trump ... with the stated goal of destroying him personally, financially, and politically.”

The lawsuit accuses James of pursuing a “war of intimidation and harassment” on Trump, his family, his business interests, and associates; something the suit alleges she promised to do when she first campaigned to become attorney general.

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced during a press conference that her office is suing former President Donald J. Trump and his children at the office of the attorney general in New York, on Sept. 21, 2022. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

“These crusades began shortly after President Trump became President of the United States and have continued since he returned to his residence in Palm Beach County, Florida,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges James launched “an abusive civil enforcement action” against Trump in New York while she was running for reelection in a bid to “rev up her political base” and garner attention for herself.

“Using the Civil Action, James seeks unprecedented oversight of President Trump’s business and financial affairs—including control over President Trump’s Florida revocable trust—as she grandstands in demanding $250 million in ’restitution' for the people of New York,” the lawsuit states.

‘Longstanding and Continued Bias’

Trump’s lawsuit points to occasions when James has allegedly stated her bias against Trump and her plans to “weaponize her resources” against him and “anyone in [his] orbit.”

The lawsuit alleges James began making threats against Trump before she was elected “at a time when she possessed no actual information or insight into President Trump’s business.”

“During her unsuccessful bid for governor of New York, she boasted about suing him ‘76 times,’” the lawsuit states.

U.S. President Donald Trump, daughter Ivanka Trump, and son Donald Trump Jr., make their way to board Air Force One before departing from Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga., on Jan. 4, 2021. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

“Now up for reelection as Attorney General, she is campaigning once again on the promise that if reelected she will continue her vitriolic and obsessive pursuit of President Trump. None of these actions are proper actions for a state Attorney General.”

Trump’s new lawsuit states that James’s legal actions have morphed from “cartoonish, thinly-veiled” efforts to publicly malign Trump for her personal political gain to a “plot to obtain control of a global private enterprise ultimately owned by a Florida revocable trust in which President Trump is the settlor.”

Trump asked the court for declaratory and injunctive relief “against an out-of-state Attorney General who has malevolently targeted him because he ran for and was elected the 45th President of the United States and, perhaps more importantly, is leading in all polls by substantial margins both in the Republican Party for the nomination and against any and all Democrats for the presidency itself.”

The Epoch Times has contacted James’s office for comment.

James’s Civil Lawsuit

On Sept. 21, James filed her civil lawsuit against Trump, The Trump Organization, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Trump’s business associates over alleged fraud, claiming the value of Trump’s assets was inflated.

Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr criticized James for this move, saying her civil lawsuit was “a political hit job.” James’s decision to include Trump’s three children as defendants was, for Barr, further proof of his conclusion.

“It’s hard for me not to conclude it’s a political hit job,” Barr told Fox News at the time. “This is a woman who campaigned for office promising she was going to go after Trump, which I think is a tremendous abuse of office to go head-hunting and targeting individuals.

“I’m not even sure she has a good case against Trump himself. So I think she was targeting Trump.”

James wants Trump’s company to pay a $250 million fine while asking for a five-year ban on The Trump Organization from engaging in real estate acquisitions in New York, as well as barring Trump and his children from serving as officers or directors of any corporation in New York.