Donald Trump is questioning a federal judge’s decision to dismiss his lawsuit against New York State Attorney General Letitia James, a new court filing said on Wednesday.
The former president is responding to a ruling by US District Judge Brenda Sannes, who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2014, less than a week ago on Friday.
Trump also attacked James on his social media app Truth Social, writing: “I believe the racist and corrupt AG James is pushing businesses and wealthy people to leave NY for friendly states. Not sustainable from [New York State].’
He frequently disparages their investigations as a “witch hunt.”
James faced a lawsuit from Trump in December to block their three-year civil investigation into his family real estate empire, which the attorney general said has uncovered “substantial” evidence of tax fraud.
The ruling was the latest in a series of legal backlashes the former president is facing in his attempts to block the New York investigation.
He was also forced to pay $110,000 to James’ office last month as one of his demands to clear a contempt charge that was granted after he failed to turn over personal financial documents that prosecutors found in their investigation searched.
And the day before Sannes’ decision, one of her fellow judges at the US District Court for the Northern District of New York sided with James and ruled that Trump and his two eldest children must testify in their investigation.
Donald Trump’s appeal on Wednesday comes in response to a court decision on Friday that ruled that the investigation by New York State Attorney General Letitia James could proceed
Trump claimed James was acting out of political “animus” because she made many statements promising to bring Trump to justice. He also argued that investigating James violated his constitutional rights.
But in Friday’s court decision, Sannes said Trump’s legal team failed to present concrete evidence that James acted in bad faith and their arguments were not “sufficient” to prove that claim.
“The fact that the public statements made by the defendants reflect personal and/or political hostility towards the plaintiffs is not in and of itself sufficient” to prove that an investigation is itself biased, their decision states.
Earlier this year, James said she had uncovered evidence that the Trump Organization had knowingly used misleading financial reports to obtain cheap credit and business for at least a decade.
The company would reportedly overstate the value of its properties to give the banks a better idea and then lower it to ease the tax burden.
She celebrated on Twitter Friday as Sannes dismissed Trump’s “frivolous lawsuit.”
“In a major victory, a federal court dismissed Donald Trump’s baseless lawsuit to stop my office’s investigation into his and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings,” James said.
“Careless lawsuits will not prevent us from completing our lawful, legitimate investigations.”
James’ office claims to have uncovered “substantial evidence” that the Trump Organization knowingly used misleading financial reports in its business dealings for at least a decade
DailyMail.com sent James’ office a request for comment on Trump’s latest file.
Andrew Amer, a special litigation attorney in James’ office, said during a hearing related to the current case last month that her investigation “is nearing completion.”
Last Thursday, judges in the New York State Trial’s Appellate Division upheld a Feb. 17 ruling by state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron that required Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump to testify before James’ team.
Engoron had overridden Trump’s concerns that impeachment would violate his constitutional right to self-incrimination.
The former president and his two adult children were summoned to James’ office late last year.
They challenged the order in court, alleging that any information their team obtains could be unfairly used in a separate but parallel criminal investigation being conducted by the Manhattan Attorney’s Office.
However, Thursday’s court filing alleged that “the existence of a criminal investigation does not preclude the civil discovery of related facts in which a party may exercise the privilege against self-incrimination.”
James could file a civil suit against Trump using the testimony if evidence of wrongdoing was found. Due to the nature of her investigation, she was unable to press criminal charges.
The criminal investigation, started under former District Attorney Cyrus Vance, has lost momentum in recent months after being taken over by new District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Bragg said in a statement last month that the investigation is ongoing but gave little if any details on its progress. A grand jury set up for the inquiry expired in late April with no public attempts to extend it.
And Engoron is also the same judge who sided with James by charging Trump with contempt, along with handing out a daily fine of $10,000 for each day he failed to comply with her subpoena to hand over documents is.
Trump and his attorney had claimed that he did not have the paperwork James requested and that he had turned over everything else, while she claimed his reasons were inadequate.
