Letitia James Targets Trump Children in Escalated Feud
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday asked a judge to sanction former President Donald Trump, his three eldest children and their attorneys for making "demonstrably false" denials in relation to the $250 million fraud lawsuit James filed last year against the Trumps and the Trump Organization.
In a letter from James' office, Judge Arthur Engoron was requested to hold a hearing to consider the request for sanctions. The letter states that the Trumps—through their attorneys—recently said they lacked "sufficient knowledge" in legal-brief responses to questions about the allegations in the lawsuit. Engoron was asked in the letter to accept some of the Trump responses as "improper" while rejecting some of their defenses.
Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump are all cited by name in the letter signed by Kevin Wallace, senior enforcement counsel in the attorney general's office.
"Defendants falsely deny facts they have admitted in other proceedings, they deny knowledge sufficient to respond to factual allegations that are plainly within their knowledge, and they propound affirmative defenses that have been repeatedly rejected by this Court as frivolous and without merit," Wallace wrote.
The letter from the attorney general's office mentions that Trump denied serving as the inactive president of the Trump Organization while in the White House, despite saying he did act in that capacity in sworn testimony.
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were named for claims they made about "being improperly targeted for investigation," despite the court having rejected their "witch-hunt" argument. Eric Trump was also cited for his denial that the Trump Organization bought Seven Springs property in New York in 1995 for $7.5 million, even though he previously admitted to them in a proceeding.
Ivanka Trump was mentioned in the letter for denying knowledge or sufficient information "as to whether she personally met with bankers, or whether she can confirm the contents of her own emails."
James announced her $250 million lawsuit against the Trumps in September. The Trumps have denied any wrongdoing and have characterized the lawsuit as being politically motivated.
Since the announcement of James' lawsuit, Donald Trump and the attorney general have been involved in legal actions against each other. In November, Trump filed a lawsuit against James that sought to block her from accessing records from a trust he set up in Florida that has ownership of the Trump Organization. He withdrew that lawsuit this month.
In April, Engoron held Donald Trump in contempt of court. Trump was sanctioned and fined $10,000 a day for his failure to comply with a subpoena issued by James for her investigation.
Newsweek reached out to Donald Trump and the New York Attorney General's office for comment.
