Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, criticized the fraud case brought against former President Donald Trump by New York Attorney General Letitia James, calling it a “friggin’ joke.”
Mr. Graham told Fox News host Sean Hannity Monday night that he believes Ms. James filed the civil suit for political reasons.
“Let’s look at the AG. She started attacking President Trump in 2018 and she promised if she got to be the attorney general of New York, she would make this guy’s life miserable, that she would go after him, look under every rock,” Mr. Graham said.
“So she has used Donald Trump to elevate herself politically. She is trying to get ahead at Donald Trump’s expense,” he said. “The judge has ruled that President Trump committed fraud, and nobody got defrauded. The judge believes that Mar-a-Lago is worth $18 million. What a friggin’ joke!”
Judge Arthur Engoron already has found that the former president and his company misled banks, insurers and others by exaggerating the value of various properties to get larger loans and better insurance rates.
The judge wrote that Mr. Trump, adult sons Eric and Don Jr., and other defendants fraudulently increased the value of properties including Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the former president’s Fifth Avenue apartment, 40 Wall St., Trump Park Avenue, golf courses and an upstate New York estate.
He also ruled that some of Mr. Trump’s business licenses must be rescinded and that an independent monitor would watch the operations of the Trump Organization. Ms. James wants $250 million in penalties and aims to ban Mr. Trump from doing business in New York.
On Truth Social, the former president has attacked the judge, the case and the attorney general.
“It is a terrible reminder that the Radical Left Democrats will stop at nothing in trying to prevent me, and the American people, from winning the 2024 presidential election,” Mr. Trump wrote in one of multiple statements. “Regardless of Party, we cannot let this happen in the United States of America!”
Mr. Graham echoed that sentiment, telling Mr. Hannity that he’s “never seen hatred toward a political figure, like I see against President Trump,” adding that “the left will do anything to ruin his life that keeps him from being president again.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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