Former President Trump has filed a lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James, accusing her of using “intimidation and harassment” and using her position in “attempts to steal, destroy or control things Trump.”
The 41-page civil lawsuit filed in a Florida federal court seeks to shield Mr. Trump’s revocable trust from Ms. James, who earlier this year filed a $250 million civil suit against the former president and his family. The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust contains his private estate plan and details decisions about the distribution of his assets upon his death.
Mr. Trump’s legal team said the trust must be protected from Ms. James, who they say is invading his privacy.
As part of Ms. James’ lawsuit, she has sought documents about the trust and its contents.
“What began as a cartoonish, thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign President Trump for personal gain has morphed into a plot to obtain control of a global private enterprise ultimately owned by a Florida revocable trust in which President Trump is the settlor,” Mr. Trump’s legal team wrote in the lawsuit filed late Wednesday night.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers argue that under Florida law, revealing a settlor’s revocable trust while they are still alive violates a right to privacy guaranteed under the state constitution.
A spokeswoman for Ms. James issued a statement Wednesday night noting that Mr. Trump has twice sought to end the investigation and both were rejected by judges.
“We sued Donald Trump because he committed extensive financial fraud. That fact hasn’t changed, and neither will our resolve to ensure that no matter how powerful or political one might be, no one is above the law,” the statement said.
Mr. Trump announced the lawsuit in a Truth Social post on Wednesday night, saying Ms. James is too focused on him when she should be worried about violent crime in New York.
“While James does nothing to protect New York against these violent crimes and criminals, she attacks great and upstanding businesses… which have done nothing wrong, like the very successful, job and tax producing Trump Organization that I have painstakingly built over a long period of years,” he wrote.
In September, Ms. James filed a lawsuit alleging that Mr. Trump and his family enriched themselves through “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentations” for 20 years. She accused Mr. Trump of “grossly” inflating his net worth by billions of dollars and cheating lenders with false and misleading financial statements.
As part of that lawsuit, Ms. James has alleged that Mr. Trump has been moving assets around and restructuring his business to “evade liability,” which is why she’s seeking access to his revocable trust.
The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, seeks a $250 million judgment and ban on any of the Trumps running a company in New York.
Mr. Trump’s filing comes hours after a hearing in New York where a judge will hear oral arguments about Ms. James’ request for a preliminary injunction to stop what she says is ongoing fraud.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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