New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a notice of entry in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud case on Friday. This motion “started the clock on Trump’s financial penalties in the case,” according to ABC News.
One week earlier, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay a massive $355 million fine, plus more than $98 million in prejudgment interest. Trump was also banned from serving as an officer or director of any business in the state for three years.
Engoron’s Feb. 16 ruling was a dream come true for James, who campaigned on targeting then-President Trump and “anyone who tries to deny New Yorkers their most basic rights.”
And she’s finding it exceedingly difficult to contain her glee.
Shortly after filing her motion on Friday, she took to X to show followers just how much money Trump owes to the state of New York: “$464,576,230.62”.
$464,576,230.62
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) February 23, 2024
In case anyone forgot that the debt is costing Trump more than $100,000 in interest for each day that it remains outstanding, she reminded them in a new post on Saturday: “+$114,553.04”.
+$114,553.04 https://t.co/YySFtkX0i4
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) February 24, 2024
James followed up Sunday with a third post: “+$114,553.04 = $464,805,336.70”.
+$114,553.04 = $464,805,336.70 https://t.co/gugrACDTpC
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) February 25, 2024
Nothing says equal justice under the law quite like watching a state attorney general bring a sham case against a political enemy and then gloat about his misfortune afterward on social media. It’s hard to believe that a prosecutor with gubernatorial ambitions would engage in such unseemly, sophomoric behavior.
Of course, the anti-Trumpers among her followers found the posts to be hilarious. But many others were appalled by them. Grabien editor Tom Elliott responded, “You’re doing well turning Trump critics like me into Trump defenders.”
A second user wrote, “I’m now 114,553.04% more enthusiastic about voting for Trump now.”
Another offered some advice to James: “How about you arrest some actual criminals? Maybe a murderer or a car thief or even a pedophile? I know you feel excited to get a biased judge to help you get someone you planned to convict before the knowledge of a crime and also depriving said person of their 8th amendment rights, but surely your time, on the taxpayers dime, would be better spent convicting dangerous criminals rather than being a social media troll? #NYCBoycott”.
At the moment, James is far too intoxicated by the thrill of power and the headiness that comes with being the center of media attention to care too much about her critics.
In an interview with ABC News last week, James said, “If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets.”
“We are prepared to make sure that the judgment is paid to New Yorkers, and yes, I look at 40 Wall Street [a Trump-owned property] each and every day,” she added.
James has kicked over a hornet’s nest. Gloating over a verdict is not only a bad look for an attorney general, it also proves the political nature of this case. James prosecuted Trump not because he was guilty of fraud, but because Trump is Trump.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said as much the day after the ruling was announced. Seeking to reassure business owners that it’s safe to do business in the state, she told billionaire businessman and radio talk show host John Catsimatidis, “I think that this is really an extraordinary, unusual circumstance that the law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are business people have nothing to worry about because they’re very different than Donald Trump and his behavior.”
Much of the public sees James’ pursuit of Trump as a real world example of Lavrentiy Beria’s infamous boast, “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.” According to the Oxford Eagle’s Michael Henry, Beria was “the most ruthless and longest-serving secret police chief in Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror in Russia and Eastern Europe,” and “bragged that he could prove criminal conduct on anyone, even the innocent. Beria targeted ‘the man’ first, then proceeded to find or fabricate a crime. Beria’s modus operandi was to presume the man guilty, and fill in the blanks later.”
This ruling has galvanized Republicans and a large swath of independent voters who consider the case itself – and certainly its outcome – to be an abuse of prosecutorial power. Indeed, we are in uncharted territory.
James is certainly enjoying her time in the sun. But “pride goeth before a fall” is a cliche because it’s true.
A previous version of this article appeared in the Washington Examiner.
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