New York Attorney General Letitia James, who celebrated the more than $350 million fine handed down to former President Donald Trump, promised years before the ruling to help remove him from office if given the opportunity.
On Friday, New York Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and the Trump Organization to pay more than $350 million in damages and banned Trump from being able to hold any high-level positions in any company in the state of New York for three years. The order comes after James’ office filed a civil fraud suit against the former president in September 2022 after a multi-year investigation.
In comments after Engoron’s order, James praised the outcome of the case. “Today, justice has been served. Today we proved that no one is above the law. No matter how rich, powerful or politically connected you are,” she said at a press conference.
In a response to the order, Trump said that the justice system in America was under attack and that James had been obsessed with prosecuting him for years.
Throughout her campaign for attorney general, James said that she would challenge Trump and that charges should be brought against him. At one point, she even went as far to say she would help remove him from office.
“America is in uncharted territory,” James said in a video during her campaign in 2018. “We are angrier and more deeply divided than we’ve ever been at any point in our history since the Civil War. And at the eye of the storm is Donald Trump ripping families apart, threatening women’s most basic rights. I’m running for attorney general because I will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president when our fundamental rights are at stake.”
Letitia James has won the Democratic primary for NY attorney general. If elected in November, she’ll be the first Black attorney general in NY history. She has promised to reform NY’s criminal justice system and to investigate and prosecute Trump’s family businesses. pic.twitter.com/M8UMHJQuIN
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) September 14, 2018
“I believe that this president is incompetent. I believe that this president is ill-equipped to serve in the highest office of this land. And I believe that he is an embarrassment to all that we stand for. He should be charged with obstructing justice. I believe that the president of these United States can be indicted for criminal offenses and we would join with law enforcement and other attorneys general across this nation in removing this president from office.”
She then said that she believed Trump was laundering foreign money through his real estate deals and promised to investigate the then president.
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“It’s important that everyone understand that the days of Donald Trump are coming to an end, but we can only do it if all of you exercise your most fundamental right, a right which is basic to democracy, and that is the right to vote,” she said.
James said that people who wanted to change the country could start by “electing an attorney general who will never back down when Trump or anyone else threatens our rights” before urging people to vote for her.
Throughout the investigation and trial, Trump has blasted both James and Engoron, saying that they are engaged in a partisan effort to damage him as he attempts to mount a comeback presidential campaign against President Joe Biden.
“The Justice System in New York State, and America as a whole, is under assault by partisan, deluded, biased Judges and Prosecutors,” Trump said on Friday. “Racist, Corrupt A.G. Tish James has been obsessed with ‘Getting Trump’ for years, and used Crooked New York State Judge Engoron to get an illegal, unAmerican judgment against me, my family, and my tremendous business. I helped New York City during its worst of times, and now, while it is overrun with Violent Biden Migrant Crime, the Radicals are doing all they can to kick me out.”