'We will come at them': Trump plotting 'vengeful' prosecution of Letitia James if elected

27 March 2024

Former President Donald Trump is still seething at New York Attorney General Letitia James after losing his civil fraud case earlier this year. And if he's elected to a second term, his Department of Justice may throw the book at her.

Rolling Stone reported Wednesday that the ex-president's lawyers are planning a vengeance campaign against James in the event Trump gets elected in November and installs a far-right attorney general. Reporters Asawin Suebsaeng and Andrew Perez wrote that "Trump and his MAGA legal brain trust — many of whom are informally auditioning for roles in his potential second administration — are serious about keeping their vengeful options wide open."

"Letitia James is not going to get away with it," Trump attorney Alina Habba said on Fox News. "We will come at them. We will come hard and we will literally fight until the truth comes out. There was nothing wrong. President Trump has done nothing wrong. All he has done is won a campaign. And that is scaring them because they know when he goes back in November 2024, he is going to clean house."

In order to appeal Judge Arthur Engoron's verdict in the bench trial, the former president owed a bond of $464 million, which included the $355 million in penalties and statutory interest. But a New York Appeals Court recently reduced that bond to just $175 million, and gave Trump another 10 days to come up with the money (he'll still need to pay the full judgment amount if he loses the appeal). But despite the multiple breaks he's received since the verdict, Trump is still planning to prosecute James under a federal statute.

Suebsaeng and Perez reported that Trump is specifically aiming to prosecute the New York attorney general under 18 U.S. Code § 595, which prohibits state officials from using their "official authority for the purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or the election of any candidate for the office of President."

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti called the use of that statute a "non-starter," saying prosecuting James would be an "abuse of power" that would likely trigger impeachment hearings.

"James used her authority as Attorney General to enforce the laws of New York," Mariotti said. "To characterize that as ‘interference’ in an election raises obvious federalism concerns. It would essentially mean that state officials could not enforce any state law against an entity affiliated with a potential presidential candidate."

The Rolling Stone report pointed out that President Joe Biden could theoretically use that same statute to prosecute Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, given his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Suebsaeng and Perez also noted the irony of Trump complaining about "election interference," given his multiple documented attempts to interfere with the certification of election results.

"As it were, Trump has been charged in two criminal cases — one federal, one in Fulton County, Georgia — for actual election interference during his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden," they wrote.

Trump has made revenge the themes of his 2024 campaign. At his first official rally of the 2024 election season in Waco, Texas — the site of a deadly FBI raid on the Branch Davidian cult in the 1990s — Trump told the crowd he was their "retribution." He repeated that statement at the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference.

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