New York Attorney General Letitia James revealed on Tuesday her plan to seize former President Donald Trump’s buildings and assets if he can’t pay the penalty in his civil fraud case.
The former president was recently ordered to pay nearly $355 million and barred from doing business in New York state for three years by state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron.
During an interview with ABC News, Ms. James said that it was “really not my business” if President Trump didn’t have the money to pay the penalty, while also noting that she has her eyes on the Trump Building in Lower Manhattan.
“If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek, you know, judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets,” she said.
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street each and every day,” she added, referring to the Trump Building.
President Trump’s attorneys have vowed to appeal the case; he and his attorneys have described the case as a “political witch hunt” and the verdict as “manifest injustice.”
Throughout the trial, the Trump team has accused Judge Engoron of judicial malpractice, and the president has asserted that he should be the one being awarded damages.
Responding to the Trump camp’s intention to appeal and their sentiment, Ms. James expressed confidence that her office would prevail.
“I cannot be paralyzed by fear. And I cannot allow anyone to bully me into silence. And I cannot allow anyone to have a chilling effect on the work that I do and this office does each and every day,” Ms. James said.
President Trump’s legal team has argued that no fraud occurred and that the state attorney failed to prove intent to defraud. President Trump has said that there were “no victims because the banks made a lot of money.”
In her comments on Tuesday, Ms. James rejected such arguments, reportedly saying that financial fraud is not a victimless crime. The attorney general reportedly said that leveling the playing field is within her wheelhouse and that if the average person can’t inflate their value to bank loans service, then neither should President Trump.
Ms. James brought the lawsuit against President Trump and his co-defendants in 2022. Justice Engoron found President Trump liable and ruled that he inflated his assets to get better loans weeks before the trial began.
In addition to civil fraud cases, President Trump faces four criminal cases ahead of the 2024 elections. These include a case related to “hush money” payments before the 2016 elections, two cases related to his attempts to challenge the results of the 2020 elections, and a case related to the handling of classified documents.
President Trump recently called for the legal cases against him to stop, alleging that they amount to election interference against the Republican 2024 presidential frontrunner.
“This is communism and a threat to democracy,” he declared in a post on Truth Social on Monday night.
“All political prosecutions of your favorite president, me, must stop immediately. We are in the middle of an election, perhaps the most important election in the history of our country, and these radical left lunatic prosecutors and judges are not allowed to be doing this,” President Trump said.
During a town hall-style interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Tuesday night, President Trump once again described his legal battles as being comparable to what opposition leaders might face in a communist country, noting the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“We are turning into a communist country in many ways,” President Trump said.
Drawing parallels with Mr. Navalny’s plight, President Trump asserted that he is facing several trials “all because of the fact that I’m in politics.”
Despite the legal battles, President Trump has so far notched up wins by large margins in four crucial Republican presidential primary contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
From The Epoch Times
