Donald Trump's attorney called New York Attorney General Letitia James a "sick person" who has "weaponized" her role to unfairly target the former president with investigations.
Alina Habba made the claim during an appearance on Newsmax after the Trump Organization filed a motion on Monday for a preliminary injunction to have James recuse herself from any civil or criminal inquiry against him, arguing that her office's investigations into his business practices are an "unconstitutional" abuse of process.
Speaking to Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield, Habba said the injunction was filed because James was "silly enough to continuously state her animus" against Trump.
"She is a sick person who really has taken her oath of office and just weaponized it," Habba said.
According to the documents filed in a New York court, James has displayed a "shocking irreverence for her prosecutorial ethics" by frequently stating she intends to investigate Trump and expose any potential wrongdoings.
"In doing so, she has exposed the vindictive and self-serving nature of her actions — she is not serving any legitimate law enforcement interests but is merely seizing on an opportunity to harass, threaten, and retaliate against Trump, his family and his associates," the injunction states.
James is looking at claims that Trump fraudulently inflated the value of some assets to get better loans from banks and undervalued them to reduce his tax bills. The probe has reportedly been looking into four of his properties, including the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.
James' office is also working with the Manhattan District Attorney's criminal inquiry into felony tax fraud charges against the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg. The 74-year-old has denied charges that he avoided taxes on more than $1.7 million in perks and is due to stand trial.
In a statement to Axios, James' office said the injunction is another example of the Trump Organization attempting to "delay our investigation into its business dealings."
Interviews With Trump's Children
James first made the statement on January 3, after the Trump family filed a motion to try to stop her office from interviewing two of the former president's adult children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, after they were subpoenaed as part of the civil inquiry.
Habba added to Stanfield that the injunction against James is important as it highlights "people having violation of constitutional rights" as well as "getting the bedrock of this country back."
She added: "This country, unfortunately, has become so politicized that people don't care anymore about the founding fathers and what our country was meant to do and what the legal system was meant to do.
"This has nothing to do with being Republican or a Democrat. This has to do with getting our country back, and people really believing that there is a system of righteousness and justice, and it will prevail."
James' office has been contacted for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
