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Donald Trump has been a little busy lately, focusing on his possible criminal indictments and his 2024 presidential campaign. But seemingly out of nowhere, the former president used his social media platform Tuesday afternoon to lash out at New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In fact, the Republican published an odd missive, accusing James of being “corrupt” and asking Congress to investigate her for reasons he failed to mention.
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And why, pray tell, did Trump shift his attention to the state attorney general? Because as NBC News reported, there were developments Tuesday in James’ civil fraud case against the former president and his family business.
As Donald Trump waits to hear whether he’s being indicted by the New York County district attorney’s office, the New York judge presiding over the separate $250 million civil fraud case against the former president and his company refused a request that would have delayed his October trial date. At a hearing in civil court in lower Manhattan, state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron told lawyers for Trump and the Trump Organization that the Oct. 2 trial date he’d already set for the case is “written in stone” and wouldn’t be moved.
Trump’s attorneys argued that they needed more time to review the “staggering” amount of evidence James’ office compiled ahead of the upcoming trial. The judge didn’t buy it.
“This case is complex, but it’s not complicated,” Engoron concluded.
At this point, some readers are probably thinking, “I’m having a tough time keeping track of these cases. Which one is this again?” With this in mind, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
It was four years ago this month when the Democratic state attorney general, taking advantage of documented allegations raised by Michael Cohen, first opened a civil investigation into the Trump Organization, and in the months that followed James left no doubt that the probe had uncovered systemic wrongdoing.
In fact, last year, the New York AG declared in a court filing, “Thus far in our investigation, we have uncovered significant evidence that suggests Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for economic benefit.”
Also last year, the former president had an opportunity to convince state prosecutors that he didn’t commit fraud, but instead he took the Fifth — by some accounts, more than 400 times.
Six weeks later, James declared at a news conference that the former president, three of his adult children, and his business operation had engaged in “intentional and deliberate fraud.” Indeed, the state attorney general’s office filed a 220-page lawsuit, which detailed extensive efforts by the former president to, among other things, inflate his personal net worth in order to secure more favorable loans.
To that end, the state attorney general’s office, pointing to more than 200 instances of alleged fraud over 10 years, is seeking roughly $250 million in civil penalties.
It’s this case that Team Trump tried to delay. It’s this case that’s going to trial anyway on Oct. 2, no matter what other legal troubles the former president might be dealing with at the time.
This post revises our earlier related coverage.