The Humiliation Of Letitia James -- And Of The New York Legal Establishment

You have probably seen that last week an appellate court in New York (Appellate Division, First Department) reversed the civil judgment against President Trump where he had been ordered to pay a fine in excess of $450 million to the state of New York.  This case originated during Trump’s first term, as part of then newly-elected New York Attorney General Letitia James’s campaign promise to take down the President.  Here is a picture of Ms. James from the Wall Street Journal:

Today, six plus years later, everything about the case has become an embarrassment and a humiliation for AG James, as well as for other parts of the New York political and legal establishment.

James was first elected Attorney General in 2018.  In running for office, James made a principal focus of her campaign how she would use the powers of the AG’s office to take down Trump, then the sitting President.  For example, here is a video from James’s campaign from September 2018.  Excerpt:

“I believe that this president is incompetent. I believe that this president is ill-equipped to serve in the highest office of this land. And I believe that he is an embarrassment to all that we stand for. He should be charged with obstructing justice. I believe that the president of these United States can be indicted for criminal offenses and we would join with law enforcement and other attorneys general across this nation in removing this president from office.” 

James took office in January 2019, and in March 2019 promptly opened a wide-ranging fishing expedition into Trump’s affairs.  And then everything went quiet for years (except for some occasional skirmishing over subpoenas).  In January 2021, when Trump left office, there was still no word from James’s investigation.  That finally changed on September 21, 2022 — some three and a half years after the investigation began, and at a time when Trump was out of office but James was in the thick of a campaign for re-election.  On that date James filed a civil enforcement action claiming that Trump had overvalued certain properties on personal financial statements submitted to banks in connection with loans, and that these overvaluations constituted “fraud” in violation of a provision of New York’s so-called Executive Law.