Letitia James vows to continue targeting Trump after years in the courtroom: 'Trump derangement syndrome'
New York Attorney General Letitia James has a long history of slamming President-elect Donald Trump, vowing in her first campaign to "take on Donald Trump" if elected, only to double down on the rhetoric after his massive election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last week.
"She’s got serious Trump derangement syndrome," Trump said at the start of the year as he faced a civil fraud trial brought by the New York attorney general. He has repeatedly accused James of suffering from "Trump derangement syndrome" throughout a bevy of New York court cases brought against him by James and other Democrats in New York.
A staunch supporter of the president-elect who has been floated as a potential AG contender has already put James on notice to end her "lawfare" against the 45th and upcoming 47th president in a fiery interview after Trump’s win.
"Let me just say this to Big Tish James, the New York Attorney General. . . . I dare you to continue your lawfare against President Trump in his second term," Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project, said on the "The Benny Show" podcast last week. "Because listen here, sweetheart, we’re not messing around this time. And we will put your fat a-- in prison for conspiracy against rights, and I promise you that."
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Fox News Digital pored through James’ history as New York attorney general candidate, compiling the highlights of her legal battles against Trump over the last nearly seven years.
James, a former city council member in New York and public defender, launched her run for New York AG during the 2018 cycle, while emphasizing that if she were elected, she would aggressively pursue charges against Trump.
"I’m running for attorney general because I will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president when our fundamental rights are at stake. From the Muslim ban, to efforts to deport immigrants, to denying transgender students the ability to choose whatever bathroom they want, rolling back regulations to protect our planet, colluding with foreign powers, putting profits over people, dividing us in ways we haven’t seen in generations," James declared in September of 2018.
"And what is fueling this campaign, what is fueling my soul right now, is Trump and his abuses, abuses against immigrants, against women, against our environment. We need an attorney general who will stand up to Donald Trump," she said during a debate in August of that same year.
James won her election that year, about two years into Trump’s first administration, and took a victory lap while vowing to expose the "con man."
"New Yorkers, we can spot a con man. We can spot a carnival barker, a fearmonger a mile away and he should know that we here in New York, and I in particular, we are not scared of you," she said. "As the new attorney general of his home state, I will be shining a light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings and every dealing, demanding truthfulness at every turn. I will hold him accountable using the unbending power of the law."
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Trump and his team immediately slammed James’ apparent fixation on pursuing him, with Trump saying on X at the time that a candidate who "openly campaigned on a GET TRUMP agenda" was elected New York’s top cop and that he would "never be treated fairly by these people - a total double standard of justice."
About three months into taking office, James announced an investigation into the Trump Organization, claiming there was evidence indicating that the president and his company had falsely valued assets to obtain loans, insurance coverage and tax deductions. The investigation was launched after Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who had previously served federal prison time for violating campaign finance laws, testified before Congress that Trump Org. had exaggerated the value of his assets.
James officially sued Trump, Trump Organization and its senior leadership for allegedly falsely inflating "his net worth by billions of dollars to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company, to satisfy continuing loan covenants, to induce insurers to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums, and to gain tax benefits, among other things."
"For too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them. Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples of this misconduct," James said in a press release. "With the help of his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system. In fact, the very foundation of his purported net worth is rooted in incredible fraud and illegality. Mr. Trump thought he could get away with the art of the steal, but today, that ends."
Trump charged that James had launched a "witch hunt" against him after her explicitly campaigning on a platform to prosecute the president.
"Another Witch Hunt by a racist Attorney General, Letitia James, who failed in her run for Governor, getting almost zero support from the public, and now is doing poorly against Law & Order AG candidate, highly respected Michael Henry," Trump wrote on Truth Social following the lawsuit.
"I never thought this case would be brought - until I saw her really bad poll numbers. She is a fraud who campaigned on a ‘get Trump’ platform, despite the fact that the city is one of the crime and murder disasters of the world under her watch!" he added.
Trump and his family denied any wrongdoing, with the former president saying his assets had been undervalued.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in September of last year in the non-jury trial that Trump and his organization had committed fraud while building his real estate business by deceiving banks, insurers and others by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth. He was initially ordered to pay a penalty of $355 million, which quickly increased to over $450 million due to interest accruals of approximately $112,000 a day.
He was ordered to pay a $454 million sum in February of this year.
Trump appealed the ruling. His attorneys called New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling "draconian, unlawful and unconstitutional."
A panel of five judges on the appellate court, notably, appeared receptive to reversing or reducing the $454 million civil fraud judgment against Trump during court proceedings in September of this year.
Trump attorney D. John Sauer argued that James’ lawsuit stretched New York consumer protection laws and said there were "no victims" and "no complaints" of Trump’s business from lenders and insurers. He added that if the verdict is not overturned, "people can’t do business in real estate" without fear.
Judge Peter H. Moulton questioned whether James’ lawsuit had turned into "something it was not meant to do."
The judge added that the "immense penalty in this case is troubling."
The court is still considering the appeal.
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Trump has said he will fight the case "all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary."
James frequently sat in the courtroom throughout the civil fraud proceedings, at one point even appearing to smirk at Donald Trump Jr.
James was caught on camera appearing gleeful as Donald Trump Jr. took the stand at his father's civil trial in November, after frequently sitting in the court amid proceedings.
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"It is so inappropriate and so highly unusual. Attorneys general do not attend trials. They just don’t," Fox News Legal Editor Kerri Kupec Urbahn said on "Fox & Friends" when asked about James’ recurring presence in the courtroom last year.
James also slammed Trump in comments to the press during the trial.
"Trump's comments were offensive, baseless, they were void of any facts and or any evidence. What they were were comments that unfortunately fomented violence, comments that I would describe as race-baiting, comments that unfortunately appeals to the bottom of our humanity," James told the media in a press conference outside of the courtroom in October of last year.
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"This case was brought simply because it was a case where individuals were engaged in patent practice of fraud, and I will not sit idly by and allow anyone to subvert the law, and lastly I will not be bullied, and so Mr. Trump is no longer here. The Donald Trump show is over. This was nothing more than a political stunt," James added.
After the judge’s ruling, James told the media in February of this year that she was ready to seize Trump’s New York City buildings, such as Trump Tower.
"If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets," James said in an interview with ABC News.
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An appeals court slashed Trump's bond payment in March, and the former president paid $175 million, which thwarted the state’s attempt to seize his properties while he appeals the case.
Trump has battled a handful of lawsuits originating in New York amid and following his first term in the White House, including in 2019 when the New York Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the NY-based charity the Donald J. Trump Foundation, and various cases where the state and city sued him over policies, such as the administration’s push to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg emerged as another Trump foe, leading the charge in his criminal trial earlier this year after charging Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records following his Manhattan criminal trial in May. Bragg's office worked to prove that Trump had falsified the business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her claims of an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. Trump has maintained his innocence in the case, and he has argued that it was "lawfare" promoted by the Biden administration and Democrats to injure his re-election efforts.
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Trump’s sentencing currently hangs in the balance, after his lawyers asked presiding Judge Juan Merchan to overturn the former president’s guilty verdict in New York v. Trump after the Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office, but not for unofficial acts. Merchan is expected to rule by Nov. 12 as to where the charges stand, while Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 26.
Despite not taking the lead on the case, James celebrated Trump’s guilty verdict, tweeting her common saying aimed at Trump, "No one is above the law," shortly following the jury’s decision.
James and Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed to fight back against any potential "revenge or retribution" from the Trump administration after his massive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump sailed to victory on the night of the election after locking down most battleground states, such as Pennsylvania and Georgia.
"We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result. And my office has been preparing for several months because we've been here before," James said. "We faced this challenge before, and we used the rule of law to fight back. And we are prepared to fight back once again because, as the attorney general of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law. And I will not shrink from that responsibility."
Between 2019 and 2021, James said, her office took nearly 100 legal actions against Trump’s previous administration.
"We're ready to respond to any attempts to cut or eliminate any funding to the great state of New York, as the governor outlined," James said. "So, despite what has happened on the national stage, we will continue to stand tall in the face of injustice, revenge or retribution."
Both Hochul and James congratulated Trump before launching warnings at the president-elect.
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"I want to be very clear that while we honor the results of this election and will work with anyone who wants to be a partner in achieving the goals of our administration in our state, that does not mean we'll accept an agenda from Washington that strips away the rights that New Yorkers have long enjoyed," Hochul said during the presser.
"Our team will do whatever we have to do to identify any possible threats to these rights that we hold dear in the state of New York and protect New Yorkers," Hochul said. "This will include legislation, rulemaking, appropriations and partnerships with our congressional delegation and including the Biden administration at this time."
Legal experts and supporters of the president-elect have meanwhile said his massive victory last week likely marked the end to "lawfare."
"Letitia James tried lawfare. The Democrat Party tried lawfare, and they lost, so now they need to go home," Fox News' Kaylee McEnany said last week. "That strategy did not work. Letitia James brought a case, the civil fraud case. It was unprecedented, our own Brain Room said, ‘We cannot find any example of a similar suit against a crime that was victimless.’ They could not find precedent for this. So she tried this, and the naked political reason was this was politically motivated. She called Trump a con man, all sorts of names. She ran on this, and what she's doing now is exactly what Gavin Newsom is doing, exactly what Kamala Harris did yesterday, and now her. They all want to be the leader of the resistance."
"Lawfare was terrible for the country. The resounding win Americans have given Trump should be its death knell," Fox contributor and former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Andrew McCarthy also wrote in an op-ed for Fox News Digital last week.
Fierce Trump ally Mike Davis said the upcoming administration will likely have no patience for "lawfare."
"I can imagine that the Trump 47 Justice Department is not going to have any patience for this Democrat lawfare over the next four years," he told Newsmax.
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman, Greg Wehner and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.