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Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Attorney General Letitia James of targeting him for “selective prosecution” to boost her political career — and urged a judge to quash subpoenas for testimony from him and two of his kids.
In a 38-page Manhattan Supreme Court filing, Trump’s lawyers cite a litany of public remarks in which James “improperly and repeatedly threatened investigation and prosecution of former President Trump and his family as a campaign promise to garner votes, money and support, and now, as Attorney General, to gain political support.”
The examples highlighted in the legal brief include a Sept. 28, 2018, campaign video in which James — now running for re-election — said she believed that Trump had “engaged in a pattern and practice of money laundering” and “can be indicted for criminal offenses.”
“When Ms. James made this speech, she had no evidence that Donald Trump was engaged in any criminal activity,” according to court papers.
“Nonetheless, she promised to investigate and prosecute him for money laundering, a baseless allegation as to which there is, to this day, no evidence.”
The filing also contains references to tweets in which James said Trump should be “worried” and “scared” of her and that she would “take on Donald Trump” and his “cronies,” as well a Dec. 14 appearance on ABC’s “The View” in which she laughed when co-host Joy Behar said, “I believe in putting Trump in jail.”
“Joy, you know I love you, right? I do, I do, I do. So, you know I can’t admit or deny,” James said.
According to Trump’s lawyers, the AG’s “extraordinary public statements — condemning Donald Trump’s political views and promising to ‘take on’ Mr. Trump and his family, associates, and companies — is powerful evidence that the [Attorney General’s Office] impermissibly targeted Donald Trump’s associates and companies for investigation and prosecution based solely on political animus.”
They also said that “many of Ms. James’s statements are in blatant violation of the presumption of innocence, a hallmark of prosecutorial ethics which requires a prosecutor to ‘refrain from speaking in public about pending and impending cases except in very limited circumstances.’”
Tuesday’s filing came in response to a motion James filed last month to force Trump, son Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump to testify under oath as part of her ongoing civil investigation in to the Trump Organization’s business practices.
In court papers, Trump’s lawyers said James’ “selective prosecution violates the Equal Protection Clauses of the Federal and New York States Constitutions and requires that the subpoenas be quashed.”
James launched her probe in 2019 after former Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, alleged that Trump exaggerated the value of his corporate assets to obtain loans and lowballed them for tax purposes.
Last month, her office said preliminary findings showed that financial statements sent to Trump’s insurers “described (his) valuation process in broad terms and in ways which were often inaccurate or misleading.”
Some of the alleged misrepresentations include overstating the size of Trump’s penthouse apartment in the iconic Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.
In addition to James’ probe, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has been conducting a criminal investigation that reportedly encompasses nearly $300 million in loans that Trump obtained against the value of Trump Tower, the Trump International Hotel and Tower at Columbus Circle, Trump Plaza on the Upper East Side and a skyscraper in the Financial District.
The probe was begun by former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance and inherited by successor DA Alvin Bragg, who took office on Jan. 1 and has told CNN he planned to “personally” focus on it.
In Tuesday’s court papers, Trump’s lawyers said James had so far avoided “addressing the extent of its coordination with the District Attorney’s Office” and “the fact that she has taken equal ownership of the current criminal case and the ongoing grand jury investigation.”
They also said the subpoenas of Trump and his kids should be quashed because James “is seeking testimony through an ‘office’ subpoena that it fully intends to use in the criminal case — without providing… the protections guaranteed under New York law” to witnesses who appear before grand juries.
In a prepared statement, Trump lawyer Alina Habba said, “Letitia James is not serving the people of the state of New York. She is focused solely on furthering her own political agenda.”
“This conduct is an embarrassment to the New York State bar and our legal system,” she added.
“We will continue to fight vehemently to make sure that this type of viewpoint discrimination never happens to another person again. This is truly prosecutorial misconduct and, in her own words, ‘no one is above the law.’”
Trump’s son Eric Trump, who is named a defendant in the AG’s suit to force the Trump Organization to turn over evidence, also accused James of engaging in “the opportunistic targeting of a political opponent during a campaign year.”
“Last [month,] an 11 month old girl was shot in the face on New York streets, crime is absolutely rampant, homelessness is through the roof, two brave law enforcement officers were just executed and 1.9 percent of New Yorkers have fled the state in the last 12 months — yet Letitia’s sole focus, and all the resources of her office, remains on getting Donald Trump — the leader of the Republican Party,” he told The Post.
In a prepared statement Tuesday evening, James said, “Another day, another baseless attempt by the Trump Organization and Donald J. Trump to evade accountability.”
“Throughout the three years of this investigation, they have never questioned our legal authority until Donald J. Trump himself was subpoenaed to testify,” she said.
“As with every investigation, we will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead.”
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