New York Attorney General Letita James, who campaigned for office during the Donald Trump administration on a platform of going after the “illegitimate president” in the courts, is pressing a judge to rule against the now-former president before he even goes to trial.
AG James has been pursuing Trump, his children, and their family business for years now, claiming the MAGA kingpin overstated his net worth by $812 million to $2.2 billion from 2011 to 2021 and seeking sanctions including a $250 million payment and a near-ban on the Trumps doing business in New York in a civil trial scheduled for October.
She wants the courts to issue a summary judgment against Trump related to fraud the trial starts, however, citing a supposed “mountain of undisputed evidence”.
Her pursuit of Trump has likely cost millions already, based on reporting of Trump’s ongoing legal fees related to the case, representing a significant strain on the law enforcement budget at a time when crime in New York City is recovering from a 22 percent spike in major crime in 2022.
Five of seven categories of major crime have receded since this surge over the course of 2023 – so far – but felony assault and especially grand larceny auto offenses were still on the rise in statistics released early August.
Crime is also likely significantly greater that law enforcement figures suggest, due to both underreporting and undercharging – an issue even Democrat state governor Kathy Hochul had to acknowledge after rapist refugee Van Phu Bui was initially released without bail after almost killing a man in the street.
