Politics
BREAKING: Letitia James Gets Slapped Down By Court
New York Attorney General Letitia James has been rebuked by a state judge after attempting to circumvent a recent victory for former President Donald Trump in his real estate case.
Fox News first reported that an appeals court has sided with the former president in deciding to allow a $175 million civil bond to stand despite James employing a “legal technicality,” as the ruling calls it, claiming that the company underwriting Trump’s bond wouldn’t have the resources to pay. President Trump continues to appeal the decision against him.
According to Fox News host Harris Faulkner, the court said, “The $175 million needs to be in cash, not mutual funds or securities where value can fluctuate. Night Insurance cannot trade or move the month by they will have control of the account and will provide a monthly financial statement to the attorney general showing $175 million in cash.”
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James, who brought the case against Trump alleging his real estate empire inflated the value of his properties, has seen the initial judgment of $454 million against Trump vastly reduced upon appeal, raising questions about whether the outcome is a Pyrrhic victory for the Democrat. Like others who have brought high-profile cases against the former president and Republican frontrunner, James’ office likely spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and will continue to expend money and manpower until all appeals are resolved.
Legal observers on both the right and left have excoriated James and Judge Engoron for bringing a “witch hunt” against President Trump that is inconsistent with the leniency granted to other New York real estate moguls. Trump himself cited Judge Engoron’s reprimanding him during court proceedings as evidence that he was never going to receive a fair trial.
“Letitia James campaigned for attorney general in 2018 specifically on a promise of ‘vote for me and I’ll get Donald Trump,’” CNN legal analyst Eli Honig said during the trial. “That’s not something she said once. She said it dozens of times, she said it in writing, she fundraised off it, and she wasn’t even specific. She didn’t say ‘I’ll get him for inflating his assets.’ At one point she said he could be indicted for money laundering… The day after she was elected, she said, and I quote, ‘We’re definitely going to sue his ass. He’ll know my name.’”
“When you make statements like that, how can you say there’s no political angle to this?” he asked.
Don Peebles, a Florida real estate titan and top bundler to former President Barack Obama during his 2008 and 2012 campaigns, blamed James for contributing to President Trump’s rise in the polls.
“Had it not been [Trump], it wouldn’t have been brought because there’s never been a case like this before,” Peebles told host Neil Cavuto last month. “I think that is an example of why Trump continues to rise in the polls. They are making him into a martyr.”
Ironically, it may have been the late Supreme Court Justice and notoriously liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg who paved the way for President Trump to appeal the initial decision. In a unanimous 2019 ruling on Timbs v. Indiana, Justice Ginsburg wrote on behalf of the court that the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits excessive fines, is applicable in state cases.
