CNN‘s Anderson Cooper went after New York Attorney General Leticia James after her indictment by president Donald Trump‘s Justice Department.
Cooper said James’ 2018 vow to judicially target Trump that year, during the Republican’s first term, was ‘not a great look.’
‘I mean that’s not a great look for somebody who has just been elected, who just been campaigning, who hasn’t even looked, I guess deeply, at any evidence,’ Cooper said on Thursday.
James, a Democrat who infuriated Trump after his first term with a lawsuit alleging that he built his business empire on lies about his wealth, was charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a home purchase in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020.
James vowed to target Trump as she spoke to a community activist who asked her if she was ready to sue the president. She was at the time campaigning for the Attorney General position.
James acted on her word and went on to prosecute Trump, charging him for inflating the value of his real estate empire.
The prosecution resulted in a $355 million penalty against Trump that was overturned by a higher court in August. James is appealing the ruling.
CNN ‘s Anderson Cooper on Thursday said it was not a good luck for NY AG Leticia James to vow to target Trump as she campaigned for the office in 2018
James vowed to target Trump as she spoke to a community activist who has asked her if she was ready to sue the president in 2018
On Thursday, James was indicted in a mortgage fraud case that Trump urged his Justice Department to bring after vowing retribution against some of his biggest political enemies.
In a lengthy statement, James decried the indictment as ‘nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.’
‘These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost.
‘The president’s actions are a grave violation of our Constitutional order and have drawn sharp criticism from members of both parties,’ she added.
The top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, a former Trump aide, personally presented the case to the grand jury weeks after she was thrust into the role amid the administration’s pressure to deliver charges.
The indictment, two weeks after a separate criminal case charging former FBI Director James Comey with lying to Congress, is the latest indication of the Trump administration’s norm-busting determination to use the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department to pursue the president’s political foes and public figures who once investigated him.
James is a major rival to President Trump who successfully launched a civil lawsuit against him in February 2024 for business fraud
James slammed President Donald Trump’s weaponization of the Justice Department following her indictment on Thursday
James was accused of falsifying records to obtain loans for this Norfolk, Virginia property in 2023
Abbe Lowell, James’ lawyer and a prominent attorney representing multiple Trump targets, said James ‘flatly and forcefully denies these charges.’ James is scheduled to make an initial appearance in the federal court in Norfolk, Virginia, on October 24.
‘We are deeply concerned that this case is driven by President Trump’s desire for revenge,’ Lowell said in a statement.
‘When a President can publicly direct charges to be filed against someone — when it was reported that career attorneys concluded none were warranted — it marks a serious attack on the rule of law. We will fight these charges in every process allowed in the law.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .