By Isabelle Wilson-
Donald Trump has sued New York Attorney General Letitia James, accusing her of conducting a “war of intimidation and harassment” against him. It follows a lawsuit that Ms James launched against Mr Trump and three of his children last September, accusing them of fraud committed over a decade.
Mr Trump, a Republican, has long accused the Democrat of abusing her position for political gain.
The former president has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
In the latest lawsuit – which was filed to the Florida State Circuit Court – Mr Trump accused Ms James of “a relentless, pernicious, public and unapologetic crusade” against him and the Trump Organization.
He also alleges that the attorney general’s own case against him is a “plot” to obtain control of his business that began as a “cartoonish, thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign” the former president.
On his Truth Social social media account, he added that, if he were “not leading in the polls by substantial margins against both Democrats and Republicans, this would not be happening”.
In a statement, a spokesman for Ms James’s office said that “no number of lawsuits will deter” New York’s case against Mr Trump.
“We sued Donald Trump because he committed extensive financial fraud,” the statement said. “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.”
Mr Trump’s lawsuit is the latest twist in a long-running feud between Mr Trump and Ms James, who – on the night she was elected in 2018 – vowed to shine “a bright light” on his real estate dealings.
Mr Trump, for his part, has accused her of conducting a “witch hunt” and branded Ms James – the first black woman to be New York’s attorney general – a “racist”.
Trump’s lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County where the former president resides, is seeking to prevent James from obtaining records from a trust that holds ownership of the Trump Organization, which he argues she has “no authority” to do as it’s “governed by Florida law and sited in Florida.”
The former president’s complaint comes just over a month after James filed a civil lawsuit accusing Trump and members of his family of financial fraud and referred them to federal prosecutors and the IRS for criminal investigation.
The lawsuit accuses James of contravening New York and Florida laws by pursuing “a relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade against President Trump, a resident of Palm Beach County, Florida, with the stated goal of destroying him personally, financially, and politically.”
The former president previously filed a lawsuit against James in an attempt to stop her office’s civil investigation into the Trump Organization’s business practices, but a federal judge dismissed the litigation in May.
A spokesperson from the New York attorney general’s office noted in an emailed statement that Trump’s two previous attempts to stop its investigation efforts were rejected.
“Multiple judges have dismissed Donald Trump’s baseless attempts to evade justice, and no number of lawsuits will deter us from pursuing this fraud,” the spokesperson said.
“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.”