The Trump administration accused New York Attorney General Letitia James of mortgage fraud. They’ve made a criminal referral seeking federal prosecution.
The Attorney General’s office responded saying this: “Attorney General James is focused every single day on protecting New Yorkers, especially as this administration weaponizes the federal government against the rule of law and the Constitution. She will not be intimidated by bullies no matter who they are.”
Is Trump playing his own form of lawfare in New York?
I think they say people in grass houses shouldn’t throw stones? It’s beyond ironic that the allegations that she’s now facing stem from the exact same types of mortgage fraud or loan-type fraud that Trump went through in that incredible civil trial where he defended himself, and he said that those banks and those financial institutions that he dealt with had acknowledged and had their own fair opportunity to look into and do their research.
The allegations against Letitia James are not quite as friendly to her, and they look quite damning. Now, the DOJ is going to start their investigation. That’s going to take some time. I don’t know how many resources they’re going to put behind that, but if these allegations that are being put forth turn out to be true, she is going to be facing the same sort of bankruptcy and turning over of her assets to the state that Donald Trump had to through that trial.
I’ve got sort of a follow-on question for this. Do you remember the February meeting between Trump and Governor Hochul, New York Governor Hochul, over New York City’s congestion tax? Well, The New York Post is reporting that Hochul threatened Trump over the measure. She referred to the appeal against his civil fraud case and told him, “I can control the judges.” Hochul is denying that report.
But my question is, is Trump still subject to that $480 million penalty? How’s that going to play out?
Well, that appeal has been going on forever at this point. This is well beyond the normal amount of time that the appeal courts look at a case like this, and he is incurring interest in the amount of over $100,000 a day for that bond that he had to put up while the court slowly goes through it.
Now, the Governor Hochul piece of it as of right now is kind of a he said/she said type situation where she’s denying that she said these things, but they sound like things that could be said where she’s leveraging her powers in the state to gain some advantage in the negotiations she’s got with the White House. All of that’s going to play out. I don’t see that being a criminal matter at this moment. It’s more political in-fighting between them. But I wouldn’t poke the bear, and that bear is Donald Trump.
But I want to know, is Donald Trump ever going to have to pay $480 million?
Well, we’re waiting to see what the appeal court says, that’s just the first layer—
But as we wait, he’s getting charged $100,000 a day or more?
If he wins, he can essentially get that money back. Not so much interest, not so much fees. Ultimately, it could cost him millions of dollars even if he wins. Then he might have to sue, maybe get that money back. But this is an extraordinarily expensive venture for him even if he—and he should righteously win. It will have cost him dearly.
Source: raialkhalij + aljazeera