Former President Donald Trump and his family are under scrutiny in the ongoing probe by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The Trump family and the Trump Organization recently filed a motion to force James to recuse herself from the investigation.
The Trumps and the Trump Organization filed a motion in a court in New York Monday to force James to recuse herself from investigating their business, according to Axios. According to the court documents, they cited that James’ criminal investigation was “unconstitutional” and an abuse of process aside from describing the probe as “politically-motivated.” They also called the joint criminal and civil investigations into the Trump Organization “highly prejudicial.”
“By playing both sides, she is able to cherry-pick her investigatory methods – civil or criminal – in a calculated manner to, for example, leverage a Fifth Amendment assertion and obtain an adverse inference,” said the filing.
This comes as James has ramped up her joint probe with the Manhattan District Attorney into the Trumps’ business practices. The probes center on whether the Trump Organization committed financial fraud by turning in false property values to obtain tax breaks. Back in December, James issued two subpoenas to Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.
James has also requested the former president to testify.
It appears that the Trumps and their attorneys have been doing everything to stop James from moving forward in her investigation, according to Peter Wade of Rolling Stone. Trump attorney Alina Habba ripped into James during an appearance at right-wing network Newsmax this week. Simultaneously, the former president’s other son, Eric Trump, also criticized James in his appearance on Fox News.
However, James has refused to back down from her investigation into the Trumps and the Trump Organization. James issued a statement in response to the notion to force her to recuse herself.
“These delay tactics will not stop us from following the facts or the law, which is why we will be asking the court to compel Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, and Ivanka Trump to testify with our office under oath. Our investigation will continue undeterred,” said James in her statement.